


𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭『Levi Ackerman x Reader』✓

by Acquisium



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Butterflies, Comfort, Complete, Cute, F/M, First Kiss, Flowers, Fluff, No Smut, Reader-Insert, Romance, Romantic Fluff, Sad, Sad Ending, Shingeki no Kyojin: Kuinaki Sentaku | Attack on Titan: No Regrets, Short & Sweet, Soft Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Sweet, Sweet Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Tea, The Underground (Shingeki no Kyojin)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-18 22:14:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 23,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29497104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Acquisium/pseuds/Acquisium
Summary: ❝𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫?❞❝𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭.❞❝𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭?❞❝𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫.❞⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅⮕ 𝐈𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐢 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝, 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐫.
Relationships: Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)/Reader, Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)/You, Levi Ackerman & Reader
Comments: 7
Kudos: 44





	1. First encounter

"Hey! Get back here you little shit!" You heard a man scream at you as you ran away from him and his other comrades. It probably wasn't the best idea to sneak out of the underground... again. Though what else were you supposed to do? You needed some flowers anyways.

Why? Well, since you didn't have enough money or easy access to paint, you had to improvise a little. Meaning, you just picked a few flowers of different colors to then crush them up and use the juice that they gave and painted with it. Since it wasn't paint, you gave it a different name, flower juice.

You were running through some allies to get to the nearest flower field that you may or may not have been to a lot of times. However, as always, those stair guards were following you. You were honestly surprised none of them had killed you yet, due to being up here for at least the 7th time.

As you finally arrived at your destination, you stopped and picked a few flowers from the ground. You had been needing yellow and blue flowers lately and you took the first opportunity you saw to sprint up, and past them, while they weren't looking.

After picking up about 12 of the flowers the three men finally caught up to you. Sometimes you would actually pay to get up, only to be dragged back down again due to not having citizenship. But other times, like this, you needed the money for food.

One of the guards, the one with brown hair and hazel eyes, grabbed your upper right arm as the other two took your left arm and basically dragged you back down. You still got your flowers with you so it wasn't all bad. Though it would've been nice to actually live up here.

_______________________________

On your way back home you heard the familiar sound of 3D maneuver gear above you. As you looked up you saw three people flying through the air, two boys and a girl. Ever since the first time you saw them flying, you had wanted to do it too. You had thought about possibly getting to know them though it was hard to keep up with them in the 3DM gear and you on your feet.

You wanted to follow them but you also had to get home. You stared at the trio until they were out of sight. They landed somewhere in the distance but you were too lazy to walk all the way over there.

As you were almost at your door you heard someone running through the ally right by your house. Peaking from behind the wall you saw a figure in the shadows. The person's form indicated that it was a man, but he seemed to be shorter than most of the males you knew.

It also seemed like he was hiding from someone..? After taking a closer look you saw he had 3DM gear on him. You realized it was one of the people that had stolen 3DM gear. He was probably hiding from the MPs.

"Hello?" You carefully said as you approached the man. You could now see more of him and what he looked like. He had raven black hair and gray eyes, his hair was cut in an undercut and you couldn't deny the fact that he was kind of handsome.

He turned his head and for a few seconds studied your form before replying, "Hey." To him, you didn't seem like the type of person to pick a fight or anything like that, just a harmless little girl.

"N-need some help?" You asked.

"And what would I need help with?" He asked back, not understanding what you offered to help with.

"I don't know," you weren't lying, you didn't even know if he needed any help but if he did, you would help him with whatever that would be. It was a passion of yours to help wherever you could.

"...Well, I don't need help with anything." He said while looking away from you. "Are you sure?" You asked.  
"Tch, yes," is all he said.

"Okay then... bye," you smiled as you skipped away from him, still holding on to the flowers, leaving Levi confused. 'What the hell..?' Out of all the weird people Levi had met in his life, you were definitely the weirdest and most annoying. Just being with you for nothing more than 47 seconds was enough to imprint your annoyingness in his head.

He stared at you until you were out of his sight. Levi walked home after confirming that the MPs were gone. When he was halfway up the stairs to his house he looked back in the direction of your house once more before walking in the door again.

Your... odd behavior both annoyed and amused him.

'Interesting...'


	2. We meet again

It had been a few days since you met that guy in the alley. You both had mostly forgotten the whole thing by now.

So yet again you were outside running from those stair guards while trying to find some flowers. By now the guys had had enough of your bullshit and had decided you wouldn't get away with just going back down to the underground, this time they would make you pay.

They caught up with you way faster than they usually would. You hadn't even gotten a single flower yet and they were already dragging you back down.

'Dammit, how did they catch up to me so fast this time?' You thought as you tried to struggle free. After a few unsuccessful tries, you decided it would be a good idea to kick them in a certain area.

It worked and you got free, but you really pissed the men off this time. "Fuck! Oh, you'll pay for that!"

As you ran away from them it felt like your feet were about to collapse. All you had eaten this week was bread, so running wasn't as easy as it should've been.  
'Well, shit... I guess this is how I die then..' you thought as your running became light jogging.

Your feet couldn't keep up anymore and you fell to the ground. It didn't hurt too much since you fell on your hands, instead of your face.

"Well, this is gonna be fun~," one of the three men said with an evil smirk. 'Shit, shit, shit! should I call for help? Uh... I don't know.. not like the people here care...' you were trying to come up with an idea that would get you out of this situation.

The guy walked closer and closer, too close for anyone to be comfortable with. You tried to get up but, your damn feet wouldn't work.

"Uh.. help? Anyone?" You yelled, not too loud though. You weren't that scared at the moment, more disgusted by the thought of these guys' intentions. The guy closest to you grabbed your hand and dragged you up on your feet, and then pinned you against the wall.

You could feel his disgusting breath on your face. 'Gah, I wanna throw up..'

The sound of steal caught your attention as you turned your head to one of the men. He was holding a knife, now you were actually scared. "No! Let go of me!" You yelled as you tried to kick the man, holding you to the wall, away from you.

"Oh I'm sorry girly, but this seems to be the end of the road for you," the man holding the knife said as he got closer to you.

"No, no, no! Please!" You started to tear up as you realized they weren't going to let you go alive. The man now had his knife against your throat as he switched places with the other man. "STOP IT!"

Right as he was about to slit your throat, a foot hit his face. He stumbled back a bit and almost fell to the ground. You were still in shock as you watched someone take down the three men with ease.

"These stupid kids.. let's go!" the man that was kicked in the face said. 'I'm 22, thank you..'

You watched as the men walked away. When they were out of sight, you turned back to the person that saved you.

Raven black hair, short, grey- 'oh I know this guy!' "Hey, are you oka- oh... it's you.." you could hear the annoyance in his voice as he remembered meeting you a few days ago.  
'Dammit. This brat again.. what did I do to deserve this? Meeting this.. thing once was enough..' he got up and started to walk away.

"Thank you.." you said softly as you looked at the ground. "Tch" was all he said as he left the scene.

"What a gentleman.," you mumbled sarcastically to yourself as you started walking back home.


	3. A friend

_Y/N didn't have parents. They left her when she was 9 so she was just walking around, trying to find something to eat and somewhere to sleep. She had been doing that ever since her parents abandoned her two years ago._

_Her H/L H/C hair was dirty and tangled, and her face was dusty. As she was walking, she saw a little corner that she thought would work well as a 'home' for the night._

_'_ _At least It's something...' she thought as she stepped closer. 'Wait a minute... there seems to be sitting someone there... who the hell is that?' Y/N saw someone sitting with their legs crisscross-style. "H-hi," she said as she looked down at the person._

_The person looked up and Y/N could now see that it was a girl. She had thick dark brown, almost black, hair that reached down to her lower back, and limestone skin color. Her eyes were brown and her lashes were long so she honestly looked really pretty. Her eyebrows were kinda bushy but that seems to be the case for everyone down here these days._

_Even though the girl was sitting, Y/N could clearly see that the girl was taller than her. "Hi.." the girl finally said in a tired voice. "Are you... okay?" Y/N asked. The girl looked down and Y/N took that as a no. "Are you hungry? I found some bread earlier. You can have it if you want." She asked the girl. The girl looked up again and said, "yeah but, do you not need it?"_

_"_ _No, not really. I already ate some of it so you can have the rest. It also looks like you need it more than I do" Y/N replied, referring to her skinny form._

_"Thank you.." is all she said as Y/N handed her the piece of bread._

_"So.. what's your name?" She asked as she watched the girl eat her bread. "My name? Um... I.. don't know what my name is.." she answered as she looked down again._

_"Oh.. well in that case... I'm gonna call you.." Y/N started. 'Hmm.. what should I call her? Oh, I know!' "From now on your name will be Aster! Like the flower." She finished with a soft smile._

_"Aster... I like that name" Aster said. A smile could be seen on her face and that made Y/N smile even more. "So Aster, my name is Y/N. Do you... want to be friends?" She asked with a small smile on her face._

_"_ _Friends? Uhh, Okay" Aster answered as she smiled even more than before. "Hell yeah!" Y/N shouted in happiness as she hugged her new friend. She had never really had a friend before, so she was really excited to finally have one._


	4. Maybe

"What? Where did all the flower juice go? I swear I had like 2 more cups.." you said to yourself as you looked around in your room for your flower juice.  
When you couldn't find it, you decided you should just try to sneak out again to get some new flowers.

You hadn't forgotten about your last trip, when you almost died, so you were going to be extra careful this time.

As you opened your door, you looked back one more time and spotted the painting on the wall. There was an Aster flower on the painting. You had made it for your best friend Aster a few years ago before she, well.. died.

It hurt you to remember her but you also refused to put the painting down, in fear of forgetting her.

You stepped outside and locked the door. Your house wasn't so big. It only had three rooms, a living room/kitchen, a bedroom and a bathroom. Everything was on the same floor.  
As you walked away you thought about the things you needed to do today. 'Ok, so I'll have to get some food as well today.'

You saw someone selling some bread and walked closer. You didn't have much money but you did have enough for a piece of bread.

After you had bought the bread you just walked around for a bit, thinking of how you could get the flowers without almost getting killed this time.

Your thought was interrupted by the sounds of 3DMG from above you. Though this time there were more people than usual. There was the familiar-looking trio and some other people that looked like the Military Police. You didn't quite understand what was happening so you decided to follow them. It was hard following them since they were flying on 3DMG and you were just running after them.

It took a while but eventually, you caught up to them. They had all stopped flying and were all on the ground. The trio of thugs was all on their knees and one of them had her face held down on the ground, in a puddle.

"Oh... I do not think she is enjoying that.." you said to no one in particular. You could see their mouths moving but, due to your distance, you couldn't hear what they were saying.  
You just stood there watching while eating your bread. You could now see that they weren't the MPs, they were from the survey corps. Eventually, the tall blonde guy crouched down to say something, but you still couldn't hear a word that he said. You moved a little closer so you could at least make out some of the things he said.

They were talking about a deal, if they joined them, their crimes would go unpunished. If not, they'd be handed over to the military police. They obviously chose to join them.  
'Lucky bastards..' you thought as you watched them walk away. You felt sad knowing you probably would never get out of this hell hole. You were too caught up in your thoughts so you didn't notice the tall, blonde man approaching you until he started to speak.

"Hey!" he said in a deep stern voice. "Hello sir," you said as you looked up at his face. Now that he was closer to you, you could see that he had beautiful blue eyes and big eyebrows.

"What are you doing out here on your own?" he asked as he raised an eyebrow. "Oh uh, nothing sir. I was just.. walking.."

'Walking? This one is definitely up to something..' he thought, as he looked down at you suspiciously.

"Tell me, you wouldn't happen to be a part of these guys?" he asked in a serious tone. 'These guys who?' You weren't sure whom he was referring to. "Maybe," you said, though it sounded more like a question.

He sighed "Okay miss, follow me" he then turned around and walked back to some other guys in the same uniform as he had on.

"Guys, another one. Take her up with the others" he said as he motioned you towards them. You walked to them and waved. They only rolled their eyes at you and grabbed your hand behind your back. They then handcuffed you and started pushing you towards some people in front of you. 'Where are we going?' You thought as you and the others got closer and closer to the stairs out of here.

Walking in front of you was the trio and the people escorting them. You and the guy holding you walked a little closer to them so you were now walking next to that short dude from earlier.

"Hi," you said as you turned to look at him. he didn't respond, he just sighed and looked down. 'Why, why me?' he thought as she 'listened' to you talking about flowers and other stuff that you liked.


	5. Butterfly

After a few minutes of you talking about flowers and other stuff to Levi, who didn't pay attention to a single word, you finally shut up because you didn't have anything else to talk about, yet.

"So.. how has your day been?" Levi only glared at you in response. He looked offended. 'Was it something I said?' You thought as you looked away from Levi and focused on what was in front of you. You could still feel Levi's death glare on you so you turned to look at him. "What?" You asked with a confused face. All he said was 'tch' and looked away from you. You looked away as well, and the rest of the trip, out of the underground, was quiet.

___

Even though you had been outside of the underground a few times it always amazed you to see the bright green grass, To feel the warm sunlight on your skin, the wind blowing through your hair. You looked around and saw so many new and colorful things. It all looked too cool and you really wanted to run up to every single thing but, you couldn't with your hands handcuffed behind your back and that guy holding you.

You turned to your left and spotted a butterfly, it had always been a dream of yours to see a butterfly and now, the dream had come true. You wanted to take a closer look at it so you tried to walk towards it but, the guy holding you wouldn't let you and dragged you back to your original spot and started to push you forward again. "I wanna look at the butterfly, Please let me go see it!" You begged the man with puppy-eyes. He just looked at you in annoyance before pushing you even more.

'Why can't that damn brat just shut up?' Levi thought to himself as he looked over to you. He was about to tell you to shut up but stopped himself when he saw a tear roll down your cheek.

'What the hell is up with these people? I... I just wanted to see the butterfly..'

___

You had been walking for a little while now. You were still disappointed since they didn't let you see the butterfly. Levi had glanced over at you a couple of times, but you didn't notice. You were too caught up in trying to see another butterfly. He felt something land on his shoulder and his eyes widened for only a split second.

you were looking down until you heard someone whisper-yell your way. "Oi, brat" you turned to your right where Levi was walking. "What?" You asked in a bit of a sad tone.  
He motioned his head towards his shoulder. You were confused but looked at his shoulder. There, on Levi's shoulder, was a blue and white butterfly minding its own business. Your eyes widened at the sight and a big bright smile came upon your face.

Levi just 'tch'd and looked away from you while you kept studying the butterfly. He couldn't help but feel.. happy? No, not happy. More like the good feeling you get from helping someone. However Levi, as always, just ignored it and kept the focus on the road ahead.


	6. Motivation

"ATTENTION!" A man yelled. You looked around at all the people in front of you.

"Starting today, these four will be fighting alongside all of you! Introduce yourself!" The man yelled again. There was a moment of silence as Levi looked around, before finally speaking. "The name's Levi" was all he said. Some people got annoyed by his lack of discipline. "Levi, the first thing you need to learn is some goddamn discipline." The man said in an angry tone. "Next!"

Isabel took a deep breath before she started. "I'm Isabel Magnolia! Nice to meet ya!" She said as confident as she could. She looked happy and proud to be there. When it was Farlan's turn he said "My name is Farlan Church" as he saluted. You on the other hand weren't really paying attention. A butterfly had caught your eye so when it was your turn to introduce yourself, you didn't say anything. All you did was stare into the distance.

Levi looked at you and sighed. He elbowed you and you finally looked his way. "Ow, what was that for?.." you said as you pouted. He just cleared his throat and looked back at the crowd. As you realized it was your turn to introduce yourself you straightened your back and put on a bright smile. "Hello, I'm (Y/N) (L/N). Nice to meet all of you." "Flagon, these four will be assigned to your squad. Look after them" the man said as he looked down on who you assumed was Flagon. Flagon did not look happy about that. "M-My squad, sir?" He said with an angry and annoyed expression on his face.

"Any objections?" The man said, raising an eyebrow. "No.." Flagon said in defeat as he looked away. "But shouldn't Erwin-" He was cut off by the man speaking again. "Erwin is tasked with overseeing all the soldiers. The new recruits will be your responsibility. Is that understood?" "Yes, sir! Understood" Flagon said as he saluted and looked at Levi. 

Levi only gave him the same death glare as you got earlier.

___

You, Levi, Isabel, and Farlan were on your way to your dorms. Flagon opened a door and said, "This is the barracks" as you all walked in. 'Are we all gonna share one room?' You asked yourself as you looked around. "Yay! We're all in the same room!" Isabel yelled as she jumped a bit. "Women have a separate dorm" Flagon corrected her. 'Thank god..' Isabel gasped "What?" "You two men will sleep in here," Flagon said.

Levi walked over to one of the bunkbeds and stroked his hand against the back of the wooden plank. Some dust came down and Levi rubbed his fingers to remove the dust. His face darkened and to be honest, he looked terrifying to you. "So I know you guys were living in the underground city's slums-" he started. "But do try to keep this place clean." If Levi didn't scare the shit out of you before, he definitely did now. He turned around and looked at Flagon with the deadliest glare you had ever seen. "Huh?" Levi said as he started walking towards Flagon. You looked over at Isabel and Farlan, they looked frightened as well.

As he was just a few inches away from Flagon he stopped. "Wh-what's with that look? And with that attitude-" Farlan cut Flagon off before he could finish what he was about to say. "Eh, sorry! We understand. We'll try to keep the place clean." Levi looked so offended by what Flagon said earlier. 'What is up with that dude? I think its best to keep my distance from him before he kills me' you thought to yourself.

You couldn't help but laugh when Farlan saluted to Flagon. He had his hand upside down. "You're doing that wrong," you said as you smiled and walked a little closer to him and corrected his hand. "You'll begin training first thing tomorrow, got it?" Flagon said as he turned on his heel and walked out of the room.

Levi was cleaning his hand with a cloth when Farlan turned angrily to him. "Don't disobey your superiors, Levi. We're drawing enough attention as it is." He said. Levi turned to him and said, "Did you not hear what that piece of shit was spouting out of his piece of shit mouth?" You weren't really sure what they were talking about, so you started to actually pay attention to what they were talking about.

"We weren't just caught by accident, you know," Farlan said and continued after shifting position. "I hope you haven't forgotten why we're here, Levi." 'Wait what? Did he just say that-' "uh, maybe we shouldn't talk about this right now?" Isabel said, referring to you.

"Tch, as if that brat would dare to do anything," Levi said as he looked over to you. "Hey.. that's mean.," you said as you furrowed your brows. "Whatever. And yeah Furlan, I know" "know what?" You asked them with a confused face. "Nothing. Come, let us get to our room (Y/N)!" Isabel said as she took your hand and dragged you with her.

You and Isabel walked over to your assigned dorm and looked around. It looked just like Farlan and Levi's room just, without Farlan and Levi. You sat down on one of the beds and bounced a little. It wasn't the most comfortable thing you have sat on but, it's better than whatever it was that you used to sleep on in the underground.

"So, (Y/N). Why are you here?" Isabel asked as she looked over to you. "Oh uh, Erwin thought I was one of you guys but I'm obviously not so I just kinda.. played along. It got me out of there so I guess it was the right call" you said honestly.

"I see. Well, I hope we can be friends" Isabel said with that big smile that seemed to light up the whole room. Her happy energy was almost contagious so you couldn't help but smile brightly back at her. "Of course, I would love to"

She immediately hugged you and you hugged her back. This was nice, to finally have another friend after all those years of being alone. When she pulled back she said "I love your hair" No one had ever said that to you "Huh? Oh, thanks. I like yours too," you said with a soft smile.

"Can I try something with it?" Isabel asked you. "Umm.. sure" you answered as you turned around to give Isabel access to your hair. She split your hair in two and braided both parts beautifully. She secured them with two (F/C) ribbons and tied them into a bow. This reminded you of something that happened years ago.

[Flashback]

"(Y/N)!" Aster yelled as she ran into the house. "Hi, Aster, what's up?" You asked as you watched your friend smile with joy. "Look what I found!" she held her hand up in your face. You took hold of her wrist and backed her hand up, so you could actually see what she was holding. It was two, light blue ribbons.

"Wow, that so cool. Where did you manage to get these?" You asked as you looked up at your friend. Aster was around 5 inches taller than you, and she would often tease you about it.

"I may have stolen them, but that doesn't matter. I wanna try something with them." She replied. You didn't really like the idea of stealing from other people but then again, this is the underground. Stealing was the only way for you to survive down here. "And what is it that you want to try?" You asked as you looked back down in her hand. "Turn around" is all she said. You did as you were told and turned around. You felt Aster tug and pull your hair for a while. It hurt a little, but not too much.

When she was done, she turned you around and handed you the broken piece of what once used to be a mirror. You looked at your reflection and noticed that Aster had braided your hair into two braids. One was a little more to the side than the other but Aster wasn't a master in hairstyling so you couldn't complain.

She had secured your hair with the ribbons and tied them to a bow.

"Soo, what do you think?" She said, waiting for an answer. "I- I love it! Thank you!" You said as you hugged your friend. It's not really fair to just call Aster your friend. She was your best friend. The best and only friend you had ever had. "Ahah, you're welcome (Y/N)" she said as she hugged you back and smiled.

[Flashback end]

As you were thinking about Aster, you didn't notice the tear rolling down your face. "Hey, what's wrong?" Isabel asked as she noticed you crying. She just became your friend and was already worried about you, how nice. "It's nothing, I'm fine I just.. you reminded me of someone from my past.." you said as you looked down. Another tear escaped your eye as Isabel turned you around to face her.

"This person.. are they.." "yeah.. she is dead.. she died a few years ago. Well, she got killed a few years ago and..." You sniffed before continuing "I was just-" you got interrupted by someone clearing their throat by the door. It was Levi and Furlan. You hadn't noticed them opening the door until now. "Isabel, we need to talk. And you brat, Stop mourning and get over it. If not, that is gonna get you killed one day." Levi said with his expressionless face. Was he always like this, or was he just really bored today?

"Thanks for the motivation," you said sarcastically. "You know, you could at least try to be a little nice for once.." you added as you walked over to your bed again. All Levi said in response was 'tch' and with that, they all left the room, leaving you alone. 'Maybe I should just go to sleep now. If I do that I'll be well-rested tomorrow when training starts.' You thought as you undressed and got into some more comfortable clothes.

An (F/C) oversized t-shirt and a pair of gray sleeping-shorts would do the trick. You laid your head down on your pillow and brought the covers closer to your face.

"Goodnight, Aster.." and with that, you fell asleep.


	7. Training

You watched in awe as Isabel rode her horse. It looked like she had been riding horses for years yet, this was her first time. One of the squad members was also shocked to see that she could handle a horse this well on her first try. "I'm surprised. Did someone teach you how to ride a horse?" She asked Isabel when she stopped her horse. "Nah. But I've always been fond of animals. This guy says he likes me too." Isabel answers. "Wow, Isabel! That was amazing! You have to teach me that one day." You yelled with a big smile as you ran up to your friend.

"Thanks, it was easy though. Come, I'll teach you now if you'd like." She said as she rode her horse over to yours. You hadn't gotten on the horse yet because you feared that he would just throw you off. "Yes, I'd love to." Isabel helped you up on your horse. He was calm and didn't move that much as you got comfortable on top of him. "Ok now, just do as I do." You nodded as you followed Isabel's instructions.

____

After about 45 minutes later you had finally gotten the hang of it. You and your horse,

(H/N), had become best friends. It wasn't as hard as you thought it would be. Your pretty, light brown horse was a calm but swift one.

As you got off your horse and headed to the woods to practice 3DMG you realized something; Levi, Isabel, and Farlan were all recruited to the survey corps because of their 3DMG and fighting skills but you were there just by a mistake. You didn't know anything about 3DMG or fighting. How would they let you stay here? Would they just send you back to the underground when they realize how useless you are? What the hell were you supposed to do?

"Hey, (Y/N). What's on your mind?" Isabel asked as she placed her arm on your shoulder. "Oh, it's nothing.." you said as you gave her a small smile. "(Y/N)." She demanded as she looked straight into your eyes. "Tell me. What is wrong? Ever since training started you've seemed.. off.." her grip on your shoulder tightened a bit as she grew more inpatient. "It's just, you, Levi and Farlan are here because of your talents, I've got... nothing.." you said as you looked down. Isabel gave you a sympathetic look before speaking. "(Y/N), I am your friend. I am here to help you. If you want, I could ask Levi and Farlan to help you with fighting and 3DMG."

"Yeah, thanks. I think I'll need that." You chuckled as you looked back into Isabel's eyes. Her beautiful green eyes calmed you down immediately as your usual smile crept back onto your face. You turned around to walk over to the woods, where you would be practicing 3DMG. When you got there, Levi was on his way into the woods to kill the Titan dummies. He took out his blades thought it didn't look like he held them correctly.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Those blades weren't designed to be held like that. Do you want to die the moment you step outside the walls?" Flagon said, clearly annoyed with Levi. "You should ask yourself the same question." 'He did NOT. How does he have the balls to say these things to his squad leader. HOW?' It was almost impossible to hold back your laughter. "What was that?!" Flagon said as anger filled him. "All I have to do is slice the nape of a Titan's neck, right?" He started. He looked back at Flagon as he finished. "I'll do it my way." And with that, he turned around and flew off into the woods.

His speed was incredible, and the way he moved so smoothly was amazing. In all honesty; he looked pretty awesome. "Was he given formal training?" You heard the woman named Hanji ask. "No, I don't believe so." The guy beside her answered. "Good. Very good!" She said with a somewhat creepy grind plastered on her face. "how is that a good thing, Hanji?" You asked her, clearly confused by how someone who hadn't been given formal training was a good thing.

"Because, everything, from how we search for Titans and as for how we defeat them, is dependent upon individual methods!" She practically screamed in your face as she shook your shoulders. "Okay, okay, I understand." You looked back at Levi who was approaching one of the dummy-Titans. By the speed the Titan came at him it didn't look like he would be able to react fast enough however, Levi being Levi, shoot his wires up into a tree branch and shot himself off the branch and sliced the Titan's nape with ease. "Amazing.." you mumbled under your breath as you watched fly off further into the woods.

____

"Wow Levi, That was amazing!" You straight-up yelled in his face as you jumped in excitement. "The way you just swooshed up and then right back down to 'kill' the Titan was so amazing. How'd you do that?" You continued as you shook Levi's shoulders. He brushed your hands off him. He didn't answer you as he just walked away. You still wanted to know how he did it so you followed behind him. You weren't stalking him or anything as it was obvious that you were walking behind him.

You saw Isabel walking not too far away from you so ran past Levi and over to her. She was walking along with Farlan so you thought this would be the perfect time to ask. "Isabel, you need to ask Levi and Farlan to help me with the 3DMG. I want to fly too." You whispered into her ear. "Ah, Yes. I almost forgot. Levi, Farlan!" The said males both turned to look at the obnoxiously loud girl. "What?" They both said in unison. "Can you help me train (Y/N)? She may or may not know how to use 3DMG.." She said as she walked a little closer to them.

"Are you serious? You don't know even how to use 3DMG? Why would Erwin want to recruit you?" Levi asked as he looked over to you. "Well, long story short; Erwin thought I was a part of your gang, though it was pretty obvious that I wasn't.." you mumbled the last part but it was still loud enough for Levi and the others to hear. "As if I would allow someone like you to join us." That is all he said as he looked away from you. "Rude.."

"Come on Levi, let's help the girl so she at least has somewhat of a chance to survive out there. Maybe, if she actually has something going for her, she could help us." Farlan said as he tried to convince Levi to help you with the 3DMG. "Ugh, fine." Your eyes lit up with happiness as Levi agreed to help train you. "Thank you!" You said as you smiled as bright as you could. "Yeah, come on, training starts now." 'Wait, what?'

"Huh, Now?" You didn't expect him to start now. In the morning it would've been fine but now? It's already getting dark. "Yes, now let's go!" He answered as he clapped his hands in front of your face. "Okay, Okay." 'This.. is how I'll die..'

____

"No, no, stop. You're doing it wrong. If you want to survive outside the walls then you have to do exactly like I do, got it?" Levi said in frustration. He had tried multiple times to get you to understand how to use the 3DMG but so far all you've managed to do is fail.

"I know I just... I don't understand how I'm supposed to just be able to twist and spin around like that while I am in the air.." It had been hours since you and Levi had started to train. And only being able to fail, was frustrating. "It is easy if you just do it correctly. You have already proven that you're able to balance properly but, balance doesn't matter when you can't click the right buttons. You need to focus, and try not to mix the buttons up."

"Easy for you to say, you're practically a god at this. A 3DMG god or something." Levi chuckled at your comment as he replied. "Maybe, I'm just better than you." You looked away to come up with something to throw back at him but you couldn't think of anything. "I feel like that was supposed to be an insult, but it's true.."

"Well, if you just didn't screw up all the time perhaps we would have been done by now and I could've been sleeping instead of listening to your shit for hours." It was obvious that Levi was starting to get really annoyed now.

"I AM TRYING! Maybe if you helped me a little instead of insulting me we both would've been sleeping right now." You yelled back at Levi as you glared at him. "I already showed you how to do it, that's all the help you'll get."

"Can you at least demonstrate it again?" Levi didn't answer you. He raised an eyebrow as if he wanted you to continue. ".. please?" You finally said and that seemed to what Levi was waiting for you to say as he spoke up. "All right, fine. I'll show you this one more time so you better pay attention this time, got it?"

Just as you were about to answer he quickly flew off with the 3DMG. His speed and flexibility were marvelous. You took note of every little swing and swoosh he did. If you wanted to survive outside the walls you had to be able to use the 3DMG without dying in the process.

Levi did a full 180° around one of the trees as he started to maneuver back. He landed lightly in front of you. "Now, it's your turn." He walked behind you as you got ready to fly into the woods. You took a deep breath while trying to remember which buttons did what, all the 'tips' Levi had given you and how Levi maneuvered through the woods. 

'Okay, you can do this, come on' you shot your wires to the trees, and, surprisingly, you didn't fall right away. You looked like a butterfly flying around; wobbly and unsteady, however, you did a somewhat decent job. Even Levi was a little surprised, not enough for anyone to notice though. Mostly because no one was around.

'Wow, okay. This is going great, we got this' you continued to fly through the woods and gradually maneuvered higher and higher up into the trees. Eventually, you got as far as Levi did while demonstrating and you hooked one of the wires to the same tree Levi did and swung around it. The cool air drifting through your (h/l) hair felt amazing. "YAHOOO!" You yelled as you did a flip. '.. what the hell, when did she learn that?' Levi was shocked you had already learned to do flips in the air. He only showed you that the first time he demonstrated and the fact that you figured that out only by observing was impressive.

You hadn't thought about how you were supposed to land without breaking your legs, so you almost fell when you landed but Levi caught you right before your head hit the ground. "How was that?" You asked eagerly. You thought you did a pretty good job this time so you wondered if Levi thought so as well. "That was.. impressive.." He hated to admit that you had impressed him. "Reall-" Levi cut you off before you could finish your sentence. "Although You were still pretty wobbly, we'll have to work on that... But that'll have to wait for another day, I want to go to sleep now." Levi looked tired and so did you, so you agreed with his statement and followed him back to the dorms.

"Good night, Levi" you smiled at him. Just as you were about to open your door you turned to Levi again. "And thank you, for helping-" before you had finished talking he had closed his door. That man really has a habit of not letting people finish speaking.

You opened your door to see Isabel already asleep in her bed. Her hair was an absolute mess and she was drooling all over her pillow. You laughed at the sight of her and got undressed before putting on your nightclothes.

You laid your head down on your pillow as you drifted to dreamland.


	8. Stars

You had woken up not too long after you fell asleep only to find no one in your room. "Where the hell is Isabel? It's still dark outside." You mumbled to yourself as you got up from your bed. You put on your uniform and walked out of the room.

You knocked on Farlan and Levi's door but after no answer, you just opened the door and walked in. There was no one here either. "Never mind then... where the hell did they go?" You walked out of the room again and looked around in the hallway. Again, no one.

Being the stubborn creature that you were, you walked around a bit in the hope to find someone. After a few minutes of walking, you could hear some people talking in the distance. It was Isabel, Levi, and Farlan.

Before you got close enough to hear what they were saying, Levi stormed out of a room with anger all over his face. You heard Farlan and Isabel yell for him to stop. He didn't stop, he just pushed past you. "Levi..? Where are you going?" You asked as you walked after him. He sped up even more so you had to sprint to catch up to him.

He finally stopped once he was on one of the roofs. He sat down on the edge and rested one in his arms on one of his feet, the other foot just dangling off the edge. You sat down beside him and fiddled your fingers while trying to come up with something to say. 'Come on brain, work..' you didn't have time to say anything before Levi spoke up.

"What do you want, brat?" You looked over at him. He wasn't looking at you, he was looking at the clouds in the sky. His face said it all, he was annoyed. It was as if your presence automatically made his day even worse than what it already was.

"Oh uh... nothing I just- you just-.. you... looked upset, that's all.." you muttered quietly.

'That was way harder than what it was supposed to be..' Levi finally looked at you. You could swear that he, only for a second, looked surprised. He sighed and looked away again. "...are you going to tell me about it? Or are you planning to just stare dramatically into the distance forever?" You chuckled, with a soft smile.

"None of your business.."

'Goddamnit..'

"Aww.. come on Levi. Don't be like that.. whatever it is I'm sure I can help." You playfully hit his shoulder a bit as you tried to get him to talk. It wasn't working though... you heard the door behind you two open and you turned to see who it was.

"Bro."

"Levi."

It was Isabel and Farlan. They were probably here to talk to Levi. "Let's talk about this. No matter how I look at it, you going alone is a bad idea. It's a fool's errand!" Farlan sounded irritated. They must've been arguing. "Alone? Like.. on the expedition?" No one answered you. 'Do they even realize that I am here?' Probably not.

"You said that when we first step outside the walls, it'll be all three of us together, right? Have you forgotten?" It looked like Levi was about to cry as Isabel finished talking. You didn't know he was capable of having such emotions.

"..it's the same." Levi stared. You all looked confused until he continued. "Without the moon and the stars, the night is just as dark above ground as below it."

You looked up to see just dark gray clouds. He was right. Without the stars and moon to light up the world, it looks just as dark as it was in the underground. "The color of the sky, sure. But-" Isabel cut Farlan off mid-sentence. "But it's different. We know that there's no ceiling! It's completely different!"

"She's right, the sky is endless... it may be the same darkness but it's different from the underground." You said as you agreed with Isabel's statement. "Look!" Isabel was pointing towards the sky. You all look up to see the sky clearing. The moon was starting to shine through the clouds.

"The moon is so bright!" Isabel sat down beside Levi to his right. "Right?" Farlan sat next to you, on your left. "It feels different, doesn't it?"

"Yeah.. because we're not underground." You answered before Levi could. You still didn't know what they had been arguing about. You just kinda played along. You looked back up at the sky with the others. It was beautiful. The moon shining, the stars sparkling.

"We'll never go back down there." Farlan said. "He's right, bro. The three of us always pulled through, right?" It'll be the same with the titans. Let's do this together." You smiled as Isabel and Farlan tried to convince Levi to let them join him in the expedition.

"Levi, believe in us."

Their friendship was beautiful. It made you miss your friend, Aster. You looked down at the necklace hanging around your neck. It was a silver chain with a blue-purple flower. An Aster flower. You gave it to her on her 14th birthday. You had to steal it but, it was worth it. That was one of the happiest days of her life. But the worst day of yours.

That was the day she died.

"All right. I'll believe in you." Your train of thoughts was interrupted by Levi finally agreeing with Isabel and Farlan. He also.. smiled? 'Wow.. so he can smile? Didn't see that coming..' Levi always seemed like a cold, stoic person, however, he did have a 'soft side'.

"Yay!" Isabel smiled brightly. You couldn't help but smile as well. Seeing your friends happy always made you happy too. "Wait.. what exactly are we happy about?" You asked as you realized that you still didn't quite know what was happening.

"Oh, we haven't told you yet?" Isabel asked as she looked over at Farlan and Levi.

"Told me what?" You were becoming curious now. Something was going on here. "Should we tell her bro? I mean, she at least deserves to know." Levi gave Isabel an 'are you serious' look before looking at you.

"Fine, but I'm not gonna do it. That'll be your job."

"Okay. Y/N), We.. weren't captured by accident.. we like.. got this job and... Farlan help me!" Isabel struggled to find a way to tell you about why they got captured that day.  
"We were 'captured' so that we could complete a job that was given to us. The job implies that be steal a document from Erwin smith and then... kill him." When Farlan said 'kill' your stomach dropped.

"What? Y-you are going to kill Mr. Smith?" You weren't sure what to feel right now. You weren't angry or anything, more shocked.

"It'll get us citizenship above ground so... yeah, we're e going to do it." You looked down at your hands and thought about what they just told you. 'Won't they get caught if they kill Mr. Smith? How the hell do they plan on getting away with this? Should I help them? No, that would be ridiculous. What would I even be doing? Stand watch? Ha! Never..'

"So, when are you planning on.. killing him?" You looked up at Levi only to notice him, and the other two, already looking at you. They were desperately waiting for you to speak up. They had to know if you were cool with it or if you would tell Erwin immediately.

"Probably during this expedition, it's our best chance."

"Okay... and how do you expect to get away with it? Won't you all just get caught? Do you need me to help you-" "No, you are not helping. I do not need another one of you getting in my way." Levi cut you off before you could finish what you were saying.

"Levi..! If she wants to help he should at least give her a chan-"

"I said NO. I don't want her screwing everything up." 'Seriously, am I that forgettable? I am sitting in between them..' Your gaze switched from Levi to Farlan, and then back to Levi again. They kept on debating whether or not to let you help them with their job.

"I will not let her help, okay? And if she gets in the way, I will kill her too."

'Oh, dear lord..' Yeah, Levi was a scary man. Even Farlan looked a bit frightened. "I-I won't get in your way... I swear." You said quickly, literally fearing your life.  
"I find that very hard to believe, but Okay..." Well, at least he's not going to kill you.

"Is he always.. this scary?" You whispered to Farlan. "For the most part, yes. But he's not completely heartless..." He answered honestly.

"If you say so.."


	9. Sunshine

The bells rang loudly as Shadis shouted out, "Open the gate! Today, we take another step forward! Show me the fruits of your training! Show them the strength of humanity!"  
Everyone cheered in unison as the gate opened fully. You, Levi, Isabel, and Farlan listened to the obnoxiously loud man yell once again. "We will now begin our 23rd reconnaissance mission! Onward!"

Everyone then proceeded to ride their horses out through the gate. You had been standing in the shadow for so long now that when the sunshine hit you it was so bright and warm. Isabel and Farlan seemed to enjoy it as well.

"Incredible!" Both you and Isabel yelled at the same time. Surprisingly, Levi agreed.

"Yeah. Not bad."

You all kept on riding but you and Isabel managed to get distracted by everything. "What are you doing? Stay focused. We're not here to sightsee. There's no telling when we will run into a titan." Your squadmate with the two pigtails yelled at you and Isabel.

"If we do see one, we'll clean it right up for you." Isabel said back, referring to you two."

"Idiot! Do you want to be the first one to die?"

The lady said. Ouch. "What's your problem?"

"You guys are only able to talk like that because you have never seen a titan before. You have no idea just how many good soldiers have been eaten..." she answered. It looked like she was about to continue but got cut off by someone yelling.

"Titan spotted! Up ahead, in the right. One 15-meter class!"

"That's... a titan?" Farlan asked. The thing looked terrifying. Disgusting even. And here you were, thinking Levi was scary. He was a literal gnome compared to that thing, well compared to everything to be completely honest. Though you don't really have anything to say about that since he is still an inch or two taller than you.  
"Three 10- meter class titans are approaching from the rear!" Another man yelled.

You heard Shadis yell something about 'readying your 3D maneuver Gear' and saw some people fly off over to where the titans were.

"Flagon, shoot your flare!" Erwin told your squad leader. He immediately shot a flare as you all kept on riding the horses. Erwin told the commander that 'it looks like it's going to rain.'

You saw one of the people, trying to kill the titan, get eaten and even if you didn't know him, it still hurt a little seeing someone just get eaten so easily. Hopefully, that won't happen to any of your friends.

Flagon then jumped off his horse, using his 3DMG. And then he sliced the nape of the titan had just eaten one of the soldiers and it fell to the ground.  
"Incredible!"

"That was awesome!"

"Their aerial ability is a cut above the Military Police!"

It truly shocked you to see someone in action like that, killing the titans that easily. Well, when they don't die at least. Especially when they all look cool doing it. You turned around when you noticed the footsteps, behind you, getting louder.

"They're here!" You yelled.

"Three of them!" Farlan also noticed them, but like... who wouldn't notice these big ass people?

"You three, stay right where you are!" Flagon shouted at you as Levi rode right past you and towards the titans. "Levi!" You yelled after him in both worry and frustration.  
'This idiot' you thought to yourself as you watched Levi ride his horse, getting closer and closer to the titans. 'Fuck it. Might as well help, while we're here'

"Farlan, Isabel! Let's go!"

"Right!" They both said back in unison as you all yanked your horse-rims backward to get your horses to turn around. "Do they want to die?!" Flagon said to himself as you tried to catch up to Levi.

He was already on his way to kill the titans as he shoots his hooks to a tree behind the titans and went around them to get an easy way to their nape. He killed it with ease, and the titan fell to the ground. He looked over in the other two titans' direction and noticed you, Isabel and Farlan getting off your horses, using your 3D maneuver gear, and heading straight for the last titans.

Isabel and Farlan both went for the same, blond titan which left the last titan to you. They both co-operated to take down the titan though Isabel almost got taken down instead when the titan's hand grabbed her. She easily got out by cutting its finger off as Farlan went in for the kill.

You shot your hooks into the Titan's foot to swing around it, and it worked. You managed to slice its Achilles joints at the heel and it immediately fell to its knees so you shot your hooks into its shoulder and went straight for its neck. Slicing the nape clean off, it fell to the ground with a loud thump.

"All of the titans have been eliminated! Hurry back into formation!" Someone yelled to everyone.

You landed safely on the grass next to Levi, and you both got on your horses again. When you got back to Isabel and Farlan, Farlan said, "how was that, Levi? We took down a titan all by ourselves!" - "We did it, bro! We did it" Farlan and Isabel cheered.

"Yeah... you guys did well," Levi said, with relief all over his face.

"I agree." You all turned to see who was speaking, it was Erwin. "Considering it was your first time, that was pretty impressive. But you used too much gas. You need to be especially conservative out here." You were all shocked to hear him say something like that.

"You're telling me to take priority of my equipment over the lives of my comrades?" Levi asked, certainly a bit enraged by Erwin's words.

"I'm saying you're making a lot of unnecessary movements. Are you having doubts?" Erwin questioned while furrowing his bushy eyebrows. Levi didn't answer him so he continued, "if you are, that'll be the death of you very soon." Soon after he finished talking, Erwin left.

"Damn him! He'd better watch his back when he's alone." Isabel said in annoyance.

"Shh, he'll hear you," Farlan told her, so she would be quieter. Levi was still staring straight forward, you weren't sure what was going through his mind but it was definitely something. "(Y/N), how'd you know about that titan heel trick?" Isabel asked.

"Well, it's pretty obvious. It's impossible to walk or stand if your Achilles joint is cut, so I assumed it would be the same with the titan." You answered truthfully. No one had learned you this yet, but with your 'intelligence' you figured it out easily.

You weren't that smart, you had just randomly read about it in a book once. Though when speaking about it, it made you sound smart.

Isabel gave you a confused look which made u chuckle and you turned around.

It turned out that Erwin's statement was true, it did start to rain. A lot. Since you had lived in the underground your whole life, you had only ever read about rain and other types of weather. You took your time just looking up into the sky, enjoying the water droplets falling onto your face. Even though some of them hit your eyes. However, it didn't take long for the rain to become a storm.

You, Levi, Isabel, and Farlan were a little bit behind the others while you were riding your horses.

"I didn't know it could rain this hard." You said as you took your hood over your head to cover your face from the heavy rain. There was fog surrounding you so it was hard to see anything more than 2 meters in front of you.

"We won't be able to make out any rampaging titans in these conditions." Farlan said loudly, to make sure you all heard him.

"This is our chance. Week uses the rain as cover to get in close in Erwin."

Levi's words shocked you all.

"Are we gonna go for it, bro?" - "yeah." Levi started. "But it'd be suspicious if all four of us broke away. I'll go alone." He finished.

"True, it's probably best not to carelessly move around." Farlan agreed. "We've got no choice. We're counting on you, bro! Go and secure our surface citizenship!" Isabel yelled towards him.

"If anyone asks, tell them I went on ahead to survey the terrain," Levi told you.

"Got it! Be careful!" You shouted after him, though he probably didn't catch the last thing you said since he was already sprinting away on his horse. You saw him look back one final time and you gave him a 'motivating' smile, as he looked forwards again and disappeared into the distance.

You looked over to Farlan and moved your horse a bit closer to him and asked him, "about what he said, shouldn't one of us survey the area? Just to make sure there are no titans around?" With a concerning voice.

"Yes, That would be smart. Want to do the honor?" He asked you.

"Sure. we'll meet up with the squad later, right?"

"Yeah, meet you there. Good luck!" Isabel yelled after you as you moved a bit away from them to scout the area. Due to the fog, it was almost impossible to see anything but a titan wouldn't be that hard to miss, right?

Levi had to instantly stop his horse when he saw a bunch of dead bodies scattered around on the ground. "What the hell... happened here?" He asked himself. He heard a flare to his right and saw a man crawling in the wet dirt.

"The titan..." is all he managed to say before collapsing dead as well.

Levi turned around and saw titan-footprints. "No way... did we pass each other?" He immediately yeehawed his horse and ran straight back, the same way he came from. He saw a soldier's arm on the ground and sped up.

As a result of the fog, Levi didn't have time to react when his horse tripped on someone's dead body, laying on the ground. He fell over with his horse and landed in the wet dirty mud. He straightened himself to sit right as he saw it, Isabel's severed head. By the expression on her face, you could see that the last thing she felt was fear. Levi's heart and soul died at this moment. Seeing one of his only friends dead is something that truly breaks any person easily. Though it wasn't over yet. Farlan. He was still being eaten by the titan that had caused all of this. The Titan turned to Levi, and spit out half of Farlan's body as if it was teasing him.

Levi was immobilized. Though not for long. He wanted this bitch to feel pain. He wanted revenge for his fallen comrades. It wasn't enough to just kill it, it needed to feel the same pain as Levi did. Due to you not being there, and everyone else being dead, he assumed the titan had already eaten you. Even if you weren't a friend for long, you were still friends. He understood that you didn't deserve this kind of death, and certainly not this quickly. He kept on slicing the titan everywhere if there were more places he could slice, he would've. Levi worked so fast that the titan didn't have a single chance to react. He ended up decapitating the bastard but even that wasn't enough. He repeatedly sliced its hand to the point of explosion and continued up to its arm and finally, killed it.

Levi landed on the ground and felt the wind pressure, from the titan landing, coming from behind him. Not sure if it was just the rain of tears, but he was assuredly crying on the inside. It showed clearly on the outside as well. All Levi could so stand quietly, crying by himself, while thinking about the fact that he had just lost the only people he actually cared about.

The other soldiers arrived shortly after the titan was brought down. Levi stool still, staring on the ground until the rain stopped and the sun came back.  
"So you're the sole survivor?" Erwin began. "How pathetic."

After scouting the area and not finding any titans, due to being on the wrong side of the woods, you finally found the rest of the survey corps. You had followed the steam you spotted rising and saw Levi standing oddly still, while Erwin was seen next to him, talking. You arrived just in time to see Levi walk towards Erwin with his sword though Erwin caught it with his bare hands..? Obviously, since Erwin was still alive, Levi had failed on killing him. Wonder why?

"I'll kill you! That's why I'm here!" You heard Levi yell. You saw Erwin reach for something on him and threw the object on the ground, away from them. Levi backed a bit up when he saw what it was that Erwin threw. A document, the same document he, Isabel and Farlan were supposed to get after killing Erwin.

"These documents revealing Lobov's crimes...are fake. The real ones have likely reached Darius Zackly by now. Lobos is finished." Erwin said, while still trying to stop Levi's blade from cutting him.

"You knew everything right from the start! You knew we were after you, and yet you-" Levi was getting dangerously close to killing Erwin right out in the open, so you stepped in and held Levi back before he did anything he would regret later. You dragged him back a bit and held onto his shoulders but before you tell him to calm down he spoke up first.  
"(Y/N)? I- I thought you were dead. Where were you?!" He asked.

"I- I was just scouting the area a-and..." you froze a bit when you noticed that your friends weren't here with you. Levi also seemed abnormally depressed. "Levi? Where's Isabel? And Farlan?" You asked with a shaky voice, already considering the worst possibility.

Levi fell to his knees and you crouched down to ask; "Levi? Are you... alright? W-what happened here?" All Levi did to answer you was look in the direction of Isabel's head. You followed his gaze and as you tried to focus your breath hitches as you realized what you were looking at. Tears immediately poured out of your eyes as if you were a fountain. "No... not again..." you whispered to yourself as you sat down in defeat. You shifted your blurry vision from the ground and over to Levi. He looked just as dead inside as you were. You couldn't stand seeing him like this so you forcefully embraced him and although he stiffened a bit he eventually gave in and returned the hug, hesitantly.

"Don't. You'll regret it." Erwin started. You let go of Levi to listen to what the man was going to say. "Memories of regret will only dull your future decisions. And then you'll begin to let others make your choices for you. All that's left for you then is to die. Nobody can tell the outcome. Each decision you make holds meaning only by affecting your next decision.

We're going to continue the reconnaissance mission. I expect you to come with me, Levi, (Y/N)."

Although his words may have seen harsh, they were true. It was just as Levi said, if you didn't stop mourning, you'll only end up dead.


	10. Dreams

It was the day after Isabel and Farlan's death. There weren't any expeditions or training going on today so you were sitting on your bed with your knees to your chest, silently crying. Not only did you lose two of your friends, but also your only friends.

Sure you had Levi, though he probably hated you, or blamed you for his friend's death. You were a bit scared to confront him about it, so you didn't. Instead, you just kept to yourself.

Levi was sitting in his bed, not crying though. There was probably nothing that could make that man cry real tears. His elbows rested on his knees as he tried not to regret his choice but that turned out to be very hard considering that he just lost his only, and best friends.

Of course, he had you, but he didn't consider you as his friend just yet. More like 'we know each other but that's it'.

After thinking about and what you were to him, the thoughts about you continued in his head. Most of them consisted of 'is Y/N okay?' And 'what is she even doing right now?'.  
His thoughts rambled on until he heard a soft knock on the door. No one else was in the dorms at the moment since most of the cadets had taken a day off and went to see family or friends. He didn't get up and just continued to stare at the wall behind the beds in front of him.

Since Levi didn't answer the door you took the opportunity to just open it. "Levi?" You asked as you peeked your head through the door.  
"...What do you want, Y/N?" Levi was clearly not in the mood to talk to anyone right now, but that didn't matter.

"I'm just... checking on you. Making sure you're all right," you replied, offering him a sympathetic smile. He turned to look at you, only to turn right back again, trying to ignore your presence.

"Get out..." Levi hissed. He obviously didn't have the slightest interest in talking to you or anyone for that matter. "No, you can't possibly expect me to just leave you in a state like this." You sat down beside him. You were hesitant at first by putting your hand on Levi's shoulder, though he didn't brush it off.

You saw his eyes starting to tear up. To think that this stole cold man was capable of feeling such heartbreak saddened you. He closed his eyes to hold back his tears and let his hair fall over his face. You brushed some of the hair away to get a better look at Levi. He looked up at you as your own eyes teared up.

"Come, I want to show you something..." you said in a comforting voice. You stood up and dragged Levi by his sleeve outside to the training ground, and a little further. You stopped right under a big tree.

You took a deep breath before speaking, "Isabel used to always talk about this tree she saw from the view of the window in our dorm... she talked about how after the expedition we should all hang out here, together..." You looked down at the grass below you as you mumbled the last part.

"Oh, I see. What did you bring me out here for then?" Levi asked.

"I-I don't really know... I just wanted you to know that if you ever need someone to talk to, I'll be here."

"Tch, thanks..."

You sat down under the tree and patted the grass next to you. Levi sighed and sat down. After a moment of awkward silence you spoke up, "Levi, if we were to live to the day all the titans are gone, what do you plan on doing?"

"I-I'm not sure. I'd probably want to live somewhere far away from people. In a spacious house, that's easy to clean. And considering that I won't have to worry about everyone dying at any minute, I could get married..." Levi mumbled the last part, but you still heard it.

"Oh wow, who?"

"Who what?"

"Who do you plan on marrying?" You asked, surprisingly curious.

"I-I don't know yet. I do have to meet the right one before I consider marrying anyone." He answered. "How about you? What do you hope on doing after the titans are gone?"  
"I uh... I guess I want to live somewhere far away from people too. But not too far away, I'd still want to easily visit people nearby. And... I want to live on a farm or something, thanks to Isabel I really like animals now... And I want my house to be placed in the middle of a flower field, with butterflies roaming around everywhere. And if I ever meet the  
right one, I'd marry him, or her, and live a peaceful and happy life... hopefully." You answered truthfully.

You always had a dream of one day living on the surface, on a farm, and with billions of flowers in all kinds of colors. And now, you had taken one step closer to that reality.  
"You've got it all figured out I hear," Levi said, almost chuckling.

"Of course I do, it's been my dream since... forever." You admitted. You shifted your position and laid your head down on Levi's lap. He didn't smack you away so you took it as that he accepted it. Levi looked down at you and put one of his hands on your upper arm.

As he sighed he asked, "Y/N, do you... think that you might already have met the person you're going to marry in the future..?"

You didn't answer.

"Y/N?" He asked again.

Still no answer... because you were already asleep.

"What a way to ignore my questions... do you want me to wake you up? Or should I just leave you like this? No, okay. Time for bed I guess..." Levi grumbled as he picked you up bridal style. He walked back to the dorms but as he reached the door he realized one rather problematic detail... the door was locked.

He could hear the voices of some of the other female cadets on the other side of the door, but Levi didn't dare to knock on the door. Who knew what they would think of the situation.

'Damnit... What the hell am I supposed to do now?'

The only thing he could think of was either wake you up or leave you in his bed. Considering everything that's happened these past couple of days he figured it would be the best choice to let you sleep. So he walked to the door of his dorm and opened it.

Levi walked over to his bunk bed and laid you down, careful to not wake you up. After tucking you in, he sat down at the end of the bed.

"You know what, Y/N? I prefer it when you're sleeping. Makes you less annoying, and more... Likable." He could feel himself wanting to smile but decided to spare it for a special moment. When you could actually see him that is.


	11. Memories

Levi had Stayed with you, hoping you would wake up soon. You didn't. And eventually, Levi fell asleep too.

It was probably around 3 AM in the middle of the night when Levi woke up from being kicked out of the bed by you. He sat on his ass on the floor for a second, trying to process what the fuck that just happened. Levi looked around and realized it was in the middle of the night since it was completely dark outside and other cadets were sleeping in their bunk beds.

None of them seemed to have heard him fall so he looked back to his bed and saw you still sleeping there. Though it didn't look like you were sleeping as peacefully as you did before.

Your peaceful and calm expression was replaced by a scared, and sad one.

"Y/N?" Levi understood that you were probably having a nightmare so he figured you didn't want him to just let you sleep anymore. He tried to shake your shoulders to wake up but you wouldn't wake up. After multiple attempts, he gave up on shaking you. So he gently slapped your head. It worked, and you woke up but... ouch.

You shot up from the bed as you breathed heavily. Tears were forming in your eyes as you remembered your nightmare. "Y/N, calm down. People are sleeping here. So be quiet..!" Levi whisper-yelled.

"I-I'm sorry... I-I'll just leave."

You stood up and were about to leave but Levi grabbed your wrist, forcing you to stop. You turned to face him and noticed something that resembled concern..?

"Y/N... you told me yesterday that you would be there if I needed it, and now I'm doing the same. So if you want to... we could talk about it." The softness in his voice made it impossible to refuse. "O-okay..."

You sat down again and took a deep breath. "It's just... Isabel and Farlan's death reminded me of something that happened once. When I was still in the underground. Remember that friend I mentioned?" You asked him.

"Uh, yes. The one that... Died?"

"Yeah, that one. Well, the thing is, she didn't just die. She was killed... I still remember the day it happened..."

[flashback]

"Aster, I'm home!" You yelled as you walked in through the front door.

No response.

"Aster?"

Still no response.

It was quiet, too quiet. 'Maybe... she's sleeping?' You thought as you walked over to the bed you two shared. She wasn't there. 'Or maybe not...'

You looked through the entire house, even though it wasn't much to look through, considering how small the house was. You assumed that maybe she had gone out but, after waiting for her for over 5 hours, some darker thoughts of where she was started consuming your head.

You walked out the door and started to look after Aster in all the alleys nearby your house but to no avail. She wasn't anywhere to be found.

You started expanding your search by walking even further from the house. This was probably a bad idea, thinking about all the people that were usually up this time of night, and their intentions.

After about 2 hours you had basically given up. You were worried, of course. But even if, worst-case scenario, she was kidnapped or something, what could you do about it? You were just a child after all.

As you walked back to your house, in the hope that Aster might have come back now, something shiny caught your eye. In the alleyway to your left, you saw a tiny little spark of light. Due to the distance, you could see exactly what it was, so you walked closer.

3 meters away and you could finally figure out what it was. A person. A very, very dead person. Due to all of the blood, it was kind of hard to see who it was, so you moved even closer. Of course, finding a dead body randomly was terrifying but in the underground, you kinda got used to it. But still, terrifying. Especially when you realized who it was...

Aster.

"Aster?! No, no, no, no!" You quickly ran over to her and shook her body. She didn't move. She was dead.

"No, come on Aster! Wake up!" You yelled through your sobs. Your vision blurred as tears spilled out of your e/c eyes, uncontrollably. You tried slapping her arm, knowing she hated it when you did that, but she still didn't wake up.

She didn't wake up and was never going to either. As you tried to do CPR, which you learn from reading books with Aster, you noticed what had been shining. Her necklace. A silver chain with a purple little flower charm. An Aster flower to be exact. It was given to her by you on her birthday, along with the Aster painting.

You also noticed all of the little cuts and bruises all over her body. She didn't die quick, that's for sure. She had been stabbed multiple times, none of them in any vital areas, and therefore, making her bleed to death... All because you used too much time looking for her.

As you kept on trying to resurrect her, you heard footsteps come closer from the darker part of the alley.

"Well, would you look at that, another one of those damn children. Looks like I'll be having twice the fun tonight."

Your eyes widened in fear as you heard a deep and raspy male voice in front of you. Your head bolted up to see who was speaking. The male looked to be in his late 40s or early 50s. You didn't even have time to react before he grabbed your frail little arm.

"No! Let go of me!" Your yells didn't help as he pinned you to the floor. His grip around your wrist grew so tight, that you could feel your hands go numb already. You tried to squirm free but he wouldn't budge. As he was reaching for something in his pocket, probably a knife, you took the opportunity to kick him... in a certain area, and he fell back a bit, enough for you to get away from him.

He started chasing you and considering how much bigger and stronger he was, you were going to have to defend yourself in some way.

You wanted to just get away, go home and go to sleep, only to then wake up find out it was all a bad dream. But it wasn't, this was reality.

He caught up to you and grabbed you by your waist to try to drag you back into the alleyway. On instinct, you bit his arm until he was bleeding. The disgusting taste of metal in your mouth made you wanna throw up.

"Ow, fuck! So you wanna play dirty, huh? Very well then." He said with that disgusting evil smirk of his. "Fuck you..." was all you said before you kicked him as hard and fast as you could between his stomach and chest, his diaphragm.

He screamed in pain as he fell to the ground again. He had difficulty breathing, obviously, and as he focused on getting his breath back you looked for any object sharp enough to stab someone. You couldn't find anything but remembered the knife that the man had used to stab your best and only friend.

It was lying a little further into the alley, it must have fallen out of his pocket when you first kicked him, so you sprinted off to get it but fell when the man grabbed your leg. You could still reach it though so, with all the strength you had left, you reached your arm out and grabbed it. Immediately, you stabbed his arm that was still holding your leg.

You got up and got behind him and stabbed the knife straight through his neck, blood splattering everywhere. He fell to the ground, not making a single sound. He was dead...  
You stood there for o moment at first, trying to process what you had just done. And when reality hit you - you fell to your knees. You had just killed a man. "Oh god, I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..!" He was obviously a bad man and he did kill your best friend, the friend you considered a sister. But you still didn't want to kill him. Not completely at least. You wanted revenge, yes. But this was too much.

You used so much energy to convince yourself that this was the better choice. Better than letting him live. But it didn't help with how you felt about it. It may have saved someone's life in the future, but it was still a traumatizing thing to witness/do as a 14-year-old.

After getting up you slowly made your way over to Aster's body. You wanted to give her a proper funeral but with you living in the underground, that was kind of hard.  
You crouched down and brushed some of her hair away from her face. Her face said it all, in her last moments she must have been in so much pain. And she must have been so scared. But in the end, she still died alone. Just like everyone else also will one day.

You reached behind her neck and detached her necklace. It reminded you of all the good memories you had with her and that's what you wanted to remember her for. You didn't want to remember her as 'the girl who died and got me to kill someone', but as the good person, she truly was.

"I'm sorry... I am so sorry I wasn't here with you." Tears were still uncontrollably streaming down your face as you put on her necklace. "I promise to never forget you... and maybe one day, I'll wake up... and find out that this was all..." you had to take a deep shaky breath before continuing. "A bad dream..."

After a few seconds of you just standing there like a complete, idiotic, mess, you left the scene.

[flashback end]

"And since that day... I've always carried her necklace with me." You took out the necklace from your pocket and showed it to Levi.

He had been listening to you talking, well whispering since everyone around you was sleeping, about your life before you got to the surface.

"Oh god. I-I didn't know, Y/N. I'm sorry..." Levi breathed.

"Sorry for what?"

"I always thought you were some kind of useless brat who just happened to get her dream come true..." He admitted.

He was right though, you were useless. Or at least you thought you were. "Well, you're right... I am useless, just as useless as I was that day."

"Do I have to be the one to remind you that you did take down a titan all by yourself?" You were honestly surprised he noticed you do that. You had almost forgotten about it yourself.

"Uh... beginners luck?"

"That wasn't just beginners luck, Y/N. That was... talent?"

"You don't even know yourself." You argued, but careful to keep your volume down. "And, I didn't actually get my dreams to come true. I'm not living on that farm I dream of... I'm stuck in the survey corps, destined to die." You added.

"Destined to die?"

"You saw what happened to Isabel and Farlan. It's only a matter of time before that happens to me too." You didn't show it much, but you were genuinely terrified of the titans, and death. You didn't want to die, you didn't even want to be in the survey corps.

Levi noticed how you had begun to slightly tremble. He put his hand on your shoulder in a comforting way as he said, "I won't let that happen to you, I'll help you get stronger... and protect you when you can't."

Even though he probably didn't mean anything specific about that, the way he said it and the tone he used, melted your heart. You were slightly blushing without even noticing but Levi did. And let's be honest here, it was quite adorable.

"Thank you, Levi... really. I think I needed that." You looked him in the eyes as you leaned yourself on him. Levi was hesitant at first, but eventually, put his arm around you and supported himself against the wall behind him.

"Why don't we get some sleep? It's still in the middle of the night." You had almost forgotten that sleep existed, but still agreed.

"Sure... Goodnight, Levi."

"Goodnight... Y/N."


	12. Tea Time

"Ready?" - "No..."

"Y/N, please. I've asked you this seven times now, when are you going to be ready?" Levi asked. He wanted to try to help you with hand-to-hand combat, though it seemed impossible at this point. Every time he lunged at you - you chickened out and laid yourself down on the ground, wanting to just give up and sleep.

"Okay, okay." You didn't want to do it, but you had to. "Just... please don't murder me." You added.

"Can't promise anything."

"Is that supposed to be comforting?!"

"Tch, don't worry Y/N. Just, come at me."

You sighed before taking the position Levi instructed you to get in. You already knew he was going to win, just like all the other 17 times, but you had to try. As you ran towards him he immediately took hold of the arm you readied to punch him with, and the other arm. He yanked your left arm up, behind your back so he could easily pin you down to the ground. You yelped in pain as your face hit the ground with the rest of you.

"Ouch..!"

"Didn't I tell you to stop using the same attack? You need to catch me off guard if you're going to take me down, got it?"

"Yes, I'm sorry... C-could you get off me now?"

Levi let go of you and gave you a hand to help you up. After getting up, you still wanted to prove that you weren't completely useless in combat, so you did the only thing you were sure was going to catch him off guard. You kicked him in the balls. He, obviously, fell to the ground as you pinned his hands above his head.

"How was that for catching you off guard?" You asked with a smug smirk.

"Well it worked... but damn that was unnecessary." Judging by his face, he was in pain. A lot of pain.

"Yeah, sorry about that. But it worked the first time and it worked this time too. So I'm not as stupid as you may think."

He rolled his eyes at you as you got up. You offered him a hand to get up, just like he did with you, and he took it. "So, are you alright? I didn't hurt you too badly, right?" Though you did it on purpose, you still knew how much it must have hurt.

"Yeah, I'm alright."

"Are you sure? I'll make you some tea to make it up if you want." You pleaded.

"Wait, no you don't have a choice. I'll make you tea even if you don't want it." You dragged Levi by his sleeve all the way to the kitchen as you started to make his tea. You already knew what his favorite was, black tea, and Levi was a little surprised that you remembered such a small detail he mentioned once.

"Here you go!" You raved as you carefully showed the cup of tea into Levi's hands. He took a sip and could have sworn you saw his eyes widen ever so slightly.

"You like it?" You curiously asked.

"Maybe, did you do something with it?"

"I didn't poison it if that's what you were wondering. I just added the smallest bit of honey. Something you clearly needed."

"What do you mean by that?" Levi asked.

"Well you're always so bitter, you just needed something sweet." You answered.

"But I already have you."

"... did... did you just compliment me?" You were shocked to hear those words come out of his mouth. You figured his cold and stoic personality was permanent, but you somehow managed to dig deep enough to his soft side.

"I- no? It was just the wind."

"But we're inside..?"

"It was the wind..!"

"Yeah right. Wanna go somewhere where there is actually wind? Like... the woods?"

"And why would I want to do that with you?" Levi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because you care about me." You complained while playfully punching his shoulder. "I do? Since when? You know this is my cup of care and-" he cut himself off by quickly finishing his drink. "Oh, would you look at that. It's empty." He never smiled but you knew that deep down he was smirking at you.

"Then I'll just go alone then." You said as you dramatically walked out of the room.

_______________________________

Since you didn't want to walk through the woods alone, you just found a small tree nearby the entrance to the woods and climbed it. After finding a steady branch, you sat down on it while admiring the amazing view.

You sat there for a while, wiggling your feet and picking on the branch, not really thinking about anything specific. Until you heard some footsteps underneath you.

"Where the hell did this brat go?" It was Levi.

You picked some of the tree bark and tried to toss it at Levi's head. You missed the first and the second time. But the third time you hit him, just barely scratching his neck.  
"I swear Y/N if that was you..."

"It totally wasn't me who just threw something at you..." you said in the most innocent voice you could. "I heard you were looking for me, decided to join me after all?"

"Not really, just making sure you didn't get kidnapped or something. And you seriously need a babysitter sometimes."

You furrowed your browns at Levi's words. "Well since you're already here, why don't you come with me?" You didn't wait for an answer and just started walking into the woods. Levi reluctantly followed after you. You were now just walking in silence, a comfortable silence.

After a few minutes of silent walking, you reached a clearing on a hill. Since most of the day had gone by with training, the sun was starting to set. You didn't even know a place like this existed. It was so breathtaking you almost wanted to cry. Tears were building up in the corner of your glossy, e/c eyes though you quickly blinked them away.  
"Do you think... the rest of the outside world looks just as beautiful as in here? Or is it prettier?" You turned to Levi as you asked him.

"I-I'm sure some places will be just as stunning, and other places, even more."

After sighing, you took out the necklace you had taken off Aster's body. It was old and rusty by now, but still just as beautiful.  
"Why don't you take that on? I mean, it's more secure than just letting it sit in your pocket."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." You tried to put it on but you always found it so difficult to put on a necklace by yourself. And you were also mostly used to put necklaces on other people rather than you.

"Struggling?" Levi asked in a mocking tone.

"No... yes."

"Here, I'll help," Levi said as he walked closer and took the necklace in his hands. He gently put it around your neck to secure it in the back. You expected his hands to be crusty and rough, but his touch was so soft and gentle, you couldn't help but blush.

"All done," Levi said softly as you turned to face him. You hadn't had time to notice how close you were at the moment. You could smell the tea from his breath, that he drank earlier, as you stared into his silver eyes. He was staring into your e/c orbs but you also noticed how his gaze flickered from your eyes to your lips a few times.

You, being the smart-ass that you were, ended up hugging him tightly as you said, "thank you, Levi."

"Don't mention it."

"No, really. Thank you, for everything. The way you have managed to distract me from everything that's happened recently, and comforted me when I needed it... I'm so grateful for it all. I don't even know how to repay you."

Your words left Levi speechless, never had anyone been this thankful for a simple thing he had done. He softly patted your back as he put his chin to rest on your head. "You don't have to thank me, yet."

His 'pun' made you giggle as you hugged him even tighter. It took a while, but eventually, you let go of him. You put on your usual bright, cheery smile and said, "I'll thank you whenever I want to, so, thanks..." Levi's mouth twitched upward just a little bit, enough to form a smile. This only made you smile even brighter.

And then the two of you walked back to HQ, together.


	13. Flower

"Levi! Wait up!" You yelled as you saw your... friend? Walking through the hallways on his way to the dorms. He stopped, turned to you and said, "what do you want, brat?" He wasn't happy to see you today, but had he ever been happy to see you? Probably not.

"First of all, I'm not a brat, and second of all, I want to talk." You answered a little too loud and energetic for Levi to handle.

"About what?"

"Something important..?"

Levi sighed before speaking, "is there a fire somewhere?"

"Huh? Um, no. I don't think so?" You were confused as to why he was asking you this.

"Did someone or something die?" He then asked. You already saw where this was heading so you answered. "No..."

"Well, then it's not important, goodbye." Levi turned in his heel and started to walk away. You hadn't asked him your question yet, so you grabbed his jacket in order to stop him.  
"It's not that kind of important, please Levi." You pleaded.

"Tch, fine, What is it?" Levi asked annoyedly.

"Oh wow, you actually want to hear it-"

"Not really." Levi corrected.

"Shut up. I have an important question for you... what's your favorite flower?" Out of all the questions, you could've asked, this was not the one Levi excepted.

"I don't know."

"Yes you do, now tell me!" Levi was sure his ears were about to bleed, considering how obnoxiously loud you were being.

"Uh... Forget me not."

"What?" You were visibly confused by Levi's answer. You did know way too much about flowers, but you hadn't a single clue what he was talking about.

"Forget me not, that's my favorite flower." He explained. Before you could say anything back, he walked away.

"What the hell is a... forget me not? Should.. should I go to the library? I mean, in what other ways can I figure this out..?" You said to yourself as you subconsciously walked in the direction of the library. When you reached the door and opened it, there were no people inside. Although there probably weren't a lot of people who spent their free time in the library reading books.

After a few minutes of looking, you found a book about flowers. All you needed to know was what the flower you were looking for looked like, and where to find it. Why did you want to find it? You didn't know. Probably something to thank Levi with.

You read through 147 pages before you found what you were looking for. Forget me not, That was the title of the page. Finally.

"So it wasn't just a trick to get away from me... Hm, interesting."

The page mostly just had a bunch of useless facts, meanings, and descriptions of all the different species there were. The only part you found interesting was the meaning. True love. Funny, how a flower that symbolizes true love is Levi's favorite.

There was a picture of what the flower looked like, it was so gorgeous. It had beautiful blue tones. It wasn't mentioned anywhere where it was located or most likely to be found, so after a bit of debating, you decided to ask Hanji, the only other friend you had gotten besides Levi.

You stood up from the chair you sat in and left the library with the book.

_______________________________

"Hanji!"

"Y/N? Hi there!" Hanji yelled back with a quick wave.

"You're a genius, right?" You didn't have time for small talk, you had to get straight to the point. Which was figuring out where you could get the forget me not flowers.

"I am if I do say so myself." She smugly replied with a smirk.

"Great! Now, do you happen to know where I, theoretically, could find these?" You asked in a rush as you shoved the book in Hanji's face.

"Probably, if you removed the book from my face, Y/N." Of course, she had no way of knowing what you were talking about. You embarrassedly removed the book from her face as you mumbled a quick 'sorry'.

"Ah, forget me not... if I'm not completely wrong, you'll have to go outside the walls to find these," Hanji explained.

'Outside the walls?' Just thinking about it gave you chills as you remembered what happened to your friends.

"And might I ask why you need these?"

"Oh, no reason... just curious!" You rambled in the least convincing tone ever. "Do I smell romance? Oh, oh! I bet it's Levi!"

"What?! No, no, no, not at all!" You didn't even realize that you were madly blushing just by the thought of dating Levi. You would never want to do something like that, right? And neither would he, rIgHt?

"Aw, you're blushing. So you do love him!" Hanji screeched even louder. And here you were, thinking you were loud? Ha, no. Your volume was nothing compared to this woman.  
"No I-I don't... I think? If I did I would've known. And even if I did, with Levi being Levi, he would never like me back like that."

"Oh honey, you're clueless, aren't you? He already does like you like that!" Hanji, yet again, screamed in your ear, making them almost bleed. You shoved Hanji off of you as you denied her statement. "What the hell? No, he doesn't, it seems that you're the only clueless person here."

"Hey, just let me ship my ships in peace! Now if you'll excuse me, I have important things to... think about." Whatever it was that Hanji was thinking about sent shivers down your spine.

"Yeah, okay? I-I'll just leave now before... you do anything more extreme than just thinking. Bye!" You sprinted off back to the library to return the book. After that, you slowly made your way back to your dorm.

It was already starting to get late so the best choice of action would be to just go to sleep. Though that turned out to be difficult. You sat up for almost 2 hours, thinking about what you were going to do to get those goddamn flowers.

'Outside the walls, huh...'


	14. I won't leave

"Dang it.."

"How the hell do you do this?!"

"Let's just... start over, again."

"Fuck!"

You had been in front of the mirror for probably an hour now, trying your best to fix the braid that had been a total mess the past few days. Ever since the day Isabel braided your hair, you hadn't dared to take the braids out, but you kinda didn't have a choice right now.

For three days now all you'd gotten was about 47 minutes of sleep so focusing was basically impossible. Every night consisted of just existing and thinking about probably everything that could go wrong in this cruel world.

A knock on the door took your attention away from the mirror. "Y/N? You in here?" You recognized the voice as Levi's. "Y-yeah, I'm here." You answered as you stood up and opened the door for him.

"Umm... What the hell is on your head?"

"What? Oh, it's supposed to be a braid... uh, yeah," you sheepishly chuckled.

At first, Levi didn't say anything, he just studied your hair for a moment. "Want me to help?" He asked while awkwardly scratching his neck.

"No, no, it's fine! You can just... go do whatever you want to do..." you mumbled the last part, hoping that Levi would leave.

"Y/N... You don't really have a choice here."

"Seriously, Levi... Can't I get a little alone time?" Your usual soft tone was replaced with a rather serious and demanding one. And even though you tried to make Levi take you seriously, he didn't. That seemed to be a recurring issue; people getting used to you always fooling around and when you actually try to be serious for once, they never realize, and just ignore what you said.

Levi was about to make a joke about you wanting alone-time but stopped himself when he noticed your facial expression. It made him realize that you were, in fact, being dead serious for once.

"What do you mean by that? Why do you want me to leave you alone all of a sudden? D-do you not want me around? Do you not want anyone to care about you? Is that it?" Even though Levi never really publicly showed emotions, he surprisingly sounded hurt by your words and actions.

"N-no, no! That's not it at all... Of course, I want you around and to care but... I-I just... Don't want you to have to worry about me..." Your head fell to the ground and Levi was left speechless for a moment. He had already thought about why he shouldn't get too attached to you, and he had tried not to, but he hadn't realized you also didn't want to get attached. Not because you didn't want to get hurt, but because you didn't want the people who cared for you to get hurt.

"And I'm not telling you, or demanding you, to leave... I'm just warning you. I'm warning you that if you don't turn back now and leave, you'll probably regret it..." your voice was low and almost inaudible, mostly because if you spoke any louder and heard your own words, you would cry. Already being on the verge of tears didn't help at all.

"Y/N."

You looked up as you realized Levi was still there listening to you being depressed and shit.

"I won't leave just because you or I might die any second, and I won't regret it... Remember what Erwin said? No regrets?... I used to think I shouldn't care about you, or get attached to you in any way... But damn, you made that so fucking hard." Levi 'chuckled' the last part, but not really. There was just that extra light, or happy tone, to his words.

"Heh, yeah I was kinda hoping you would take this chance to leave... so if I or you die, you are not allowed to complain." You said sarcastically, hoping to brighten the mood.

"Can't promise anything," Levi answered, also sarcastically, to join in on the mood-brightening.

You gave him a quick laugh and a smile and continued to stare at the floor for a few more moments before looking up at him, locking your eyes.

"Now about your hair, will you let me help you?" Levi said, just to be sure you weren't planning on making him leave you alone again. You had completely forgotten about the bird nest on your head and couldn't help but laugh when you imagined how ridiculous you must have been looking to Levi.

"Yeah, go ahead... But I doubt you'll be able to fix this mess."

It took a few tries, and a few hair strands to be removed, but eventually, Levi redeemed himself as done. He gave you a mirror and you were honestly surprised... but not really in a good way.

"I tried, okay? Braiding hair is a lot harder than you think, so don't complain." The new bird nest on your head would probably be better off if you just removed it.

"I'm just gonna... remove this. I'll survive with (hairstyle) I guess..."

"Sorry, I swear I tried."

"Don't worry about it," you joked back with a cheeky smile. "Now why don't we get back to training, eh? Wouldn't want to be late."


	15. A kiss

This morning started great for you... until Erwin decided to announce an upcoming expedition, without stating the goal or meaning of this expedition. 'Weee.. this is going to be great.' You thought sarcastically as all the memories and trauma from the last expedition came rushing back into your brain.

You were basically just staring into space with an 'I'm-scared' look on your face as Erwin explained the rest and gave you all some more useless information that probably was important. You and many others didn't take this news so... easily and light-hearted. Especially Levi.

Right after Erwin finished talking, he stormed out of the room with you quickly following behind him, trying to catch up with him.

"Levi, where the hell are you going?!" You yelled after him in the hope that he would stop walking so damn fast. It worked and he stopped, but you didn't expect him to slam you against the wall with a murderous look in his eyes. The brick wall didn't feel particularly good to be thrown into if you were being completely honest.

"Ouch..."

"Fuck, I'm sorry..." Levi said as he slowly let go of you and backed up and leaned against the wall on the other side of the hallway. There were no windows in the hallway, and it was only lit up by the torches on the wall, so it was kinda hard for you to see Levi's facial expression. But judging by the tone of his voice, he was sorry about that. "It's okay."

"Umm, why did you run off so fast? There were still things that needed to be discussed..."

Levi scoffed and didn't answer. "Okay, what's wrong?"

"Huh?" Levi honestly didn't expect you to see right through him, especially not this fast. He had hoped you wouldn't realize that something was bothering him, you with your amazing detective-skills, you did.

"It's kinda obvious that something's bothering you, now tell me, what's wrong?"

Your intimating eyes sent shivers down Levi's spine as he tried to avoid your gaze. "I swear to the walls Levi if you don't tell me I'll kick your balls-"

"Tch, fine. I'll tell you... I-it's just this expedition," Levi answered.

"Levi, you'll be fine, no need to worry about it. I've seen what you can do. I mean at this rate you'll become humanity's strongest soldier faster than I fall asleep."

"I know I'll be fine... but the others and... you, Erwin didn't even tell us why we're going on this expedition. So I'm guessing that everyone that dies there, dies for nothing..."

His words kinda surprised you. You would never have expected Levi to somewhat care about the rest of the survey corps. "Wow, okay... that's surprisingly sweet."

"What do you mean?"

"Well I didn't think you cared about these people, yet here you are worrying about them." You explained.

'I'm worried about you, idiot...'

The conversation came to an end when Levi didn't know how to answer, and the hallway became quiet once again. You were considering walking away now, back to your room but also wanted to stay with Levi for a little longer.

"Did you brush your teeth this morning?" Levi asked, completely out of nowhere. "I- uhh... Y-yes?" Levi had ordered you to brush your teeth every morning and night so that he wouldn't have to complain about your breath again. "All right, good." He repelled himself from the wall he was leaning against and started walking closer to you.

"L-Levi?-" Before you got to finish your sentence, Levi grabbed your chin and his lips met yours. You were surprised at first and didn't know what to do. Levi noticed this and thought you didn't like him like that and he stopped.

"I'm sorry... just forget I did that-" you cut him off before he could say anything more, "oh, shut up," and you dragged him by the collar, back into a kiss. And saying Levi was surprised was an understatement. Soon after, the kiss deepened. The corridor around you slowly faded away, it wasn't important at this moment, the only thing keeping your focus was Levi and his soft lips. his intense and quickly beating heart gave his nervousness away. Your hands left Levi's collar and slowly crept upwards the back of his head as his hands found their place on your lower back, pulling you closer in the process.

Since you needed air to breathe, you sadly had to pull away from each other. e/c eyes stared into Levi's grey ones as you struggled to say anything. The gentle orange glow from the torches made you even more intoxicating to Levi. "So, uhh..." Levi struggled just as much as you, did to find the right words, as he awkwardly avoided eye contact.

"We have an expedition to prepare for, umm, we should talk later..." You were too much of a blushing mess to deal with this situation, and so was Levi. you started to walk away but remembered something you were gonna tell Levi.

"Levi, don't worry about the others... Have some faith in them, believe in us." And with that, you left him. It may have looked dramatic but you were honestly just on your way to fangirl over what just happened with Hanji while Levi was left with your words playing over and over in his mind.

"Believe in us."


	16. A promise

The morning of the 24th reconnaissance mission... Absolutely great. No matter how many times you washed and dried your hands, they always became just as sweaty and disgusting as before in a matter of minutes. And no matter how many times you stopped to breathe, your heart wouldn't stop pounding.

You tried your darn hardest to hide it, and it was working..? Though, your thoughts of worry were quickly interrupted by the voice of a certain someone. "Y/N."

'Damnit, he found me...'

"Levi? Hey, what a coincidence that you're here too. Heh..." You said while awkwardly trying to end this conversation as fast as possible. "Tch, It's not a coincidence, we were supposed to meet here and prepare the horses." - "Right..."

Silence.

More silence.

Awkward silence.

"I know this might be a little... complicated to do, due to our circumstances, but could you promise me something?" There was a hint of worry and... fear? In Levi's voice. "Depends... what's the promise?" You hesitantly asked.

"Can you promise me you'll come back after this expedition with me? I really don't feel like coming back without you... Not today at least."

Fuck... you couldn't promise him something like that. You were already breaking down, and the expedition hadn't even started yet. "Well, of course, I can't leave you yet. I'm not done annoying you." You partly lied. This isn't going to end well, is it?

_______________________

So here you were, on your horse, ready for battle... ready to die.

'Believe in us.'

Those words hadn't left Levi's mind since yesterday. He couldn't ignore the bad feeling, growing in his stomach anymore. He thought, 'as long as I'm prepared for everything and stay focused, nothing can go wrong...?' well...

The bells in the tower nearby rang loudly, making sure everyone around knew that an expedition was about to begin. Shadis yelled, "open the gates!" And the gates slowly opened as the memories of the last mission came to your mind. You and Levi nervously listened to the obnoxiously loud Shadis scream again. "We are now beginning our 24th reconnaissance mission!"

You didn't want this to happen again, all you wanted was to peacefully live somewhere far away from people, and to have a garden and a farm. But instead of waiting down in the underground until you had enough money to get out of there, you decided to cheat...

'I mean... as long as I just... don't die? I guess I'll be fine...?'

The moment the gate stopped moving and was completely open, Shadis started the mission.

"Onward!"

All the horses started sprinting, including yours, and all you had to do was to make sure you didn't lose focus on the formation and- 'oh! Another butterfly!'

So that's probably gonna be a problem...

You noticed The squad Levi was put in, slowly moving towards the direction of southwest and the squad you were in, continuing straight forward, towards the south. Yeah, you weren't assigned to the same squad leaders. Mostly because of your different skill sets and strategies. You were both useful, yes, but in different ways so you weren't needed in the same places of the formation.

So far everything had gone well. No titans had been spotted, no flares fired, and no deaths. Yet.

A black flare caught your eyes' attention and you immediately knew. Abnormal titan. And it was close. You could see the fucker wobbly running towards you. The squad you were in wasn't big but it was enough people to attract the titan.

"Keep going! Don't engage in combat unless necessary! It's not here yet, so keep going south!" You heard your squad leader, Ethan, yell. But you didn't agree.

"B-but sir! It's better to take it down now before it can do any damage!" You protested. "L/N, no." - "L/N, yes." And without listening further to your superior, you bolted off recklessly straight to the titan. It was a stupid idea, but it went oddly well. You hooked your hooks into the titan's leg, jumped off your horse, and spun around the titan's legs to get to its neck. You retracted your wires and shot them into the titan's neck, got closer, and cut the nape perfectly... perfectly...?!

You legitamently didn't think you were capable of doing that. and the same goes for you the rest of the squad, they were shocked. 'what the fuck? did I just... not die?' you asked yourself. "Y/N, didn't I tell you not to engage combat?!" Squad-leader Ethan was not happy, that much you knew. "I-I'm sorry, sir, but... I just didn't agree with you. And it went well right? I honestly think that was pretty impressive of me... ish."

"I know, and I do have to admit that I am impressed myself, but still. It was too reckless of you. Don't do that again, got it?" You nodded in response. "All right, let's keep moving now!"

"Yes sir!" The squad yelled in unison as you determinately told yourself, 'I... I can do this.' and you got back on your horse and rode south again.

Levi and the squad had run into quite a bit of trouble. It seemed that the southwest area was more crowded with titans than the east and northeast area, so the expedition involved a lot of titan killing for Levi. He just finished letting out his anger and hate for titans on his 3rd titan with his usual bored and unfazed expression, yet inside he held worry. Worry for you.

'God, that idiot better still be alive...'

And the same could be said about you, you were worried. Worried for him.

'That shorty better not have died yet...'

________________

The ride had been so quiet, too quiet. And not because nobody was talking, 'cause Chay, Aksel, and Klaus, your other squadmates, had been talking shit all this time. "Yo, Brandt! What's the difference between hungry and horny?" Klaus yelled. "Klaus, please don't." Chay intensively warned. And since Aksel obviously didn't want the rest of the 'joke', Klaus answered just to annoy everyone. "Where you stick the-!"

"Klaus! For the love of God, shut the fuck up!"

You slowly came to understand why Levi doesn't like people who talk too much... and yet, he still fell in love with you, one of the most talkative people on this planet.  
'Wait... what did hanji say about those flowers again? Outside the walls, huh? I should keep an eye out for those... But they're not here. Could they be back at the gates? or are they in the west? I swear hanji mentioned something about them being located in the west at some point in time.'

"Squad leader Ethan!" - "Yes?"

"Could I like maybe, kinda, possibly go look for something real quick? I'll come back, I just need to go to the western part of a formation for a little while." He stopped his horse to talk easier, and so did the rest of the squad. "Why?" Ethan asked, clearly not being a fan of letting you go off on your own.

"Well... I am in serious need of flowers, sir," you stated plainly, not trying to make it sound as stupid as it was. "There's a flower right there," he said while pointing to a dandelion in the grass. "Pick it up so that we can continue the mission."

"But that's not the right one. C'mon, sir... please?" You pleaded with puppy eyes, hoping it would convince him. He sighed and thought about the situation, trying to decide whether he would let you go off on your own or not.

[flashback]

Erwin was leading you to your new squad leader and squadmates. You were a little surprised that you and Levi weren't in the same squad as you, but it was fine.

"Ethan, I'm here to introduce you to your new squad member. Ethan, this is Y/N L/N. Y/N, this is Ethan Albrecht, your new squad leader."

You held out your hand for him to shake and he took it, "Nice to meet you, sir." You said with a welcoming smile. "It's Pleasure to meet you too, L/N," Ethan replied and let go of your hand.

"I'll leave you two, for now, goodbye." And then Erwin left.

Ethan turned towards the door to his left and opened it to reveal 3 people. A girl, and two guys. It was chaos. "Klaus! Put down the match and put out that fire." You stood in the doorway, shocked at the scene in front of you. One guy, Klaus, had put some sort of document on fire. The other guy, Aksel, was trying to put out the fire while the girl, Chay, looked like she was dying, on the floor, of laughter.

"I swear to god you all need a babysitter 24/7." Ethan disappointedly grumbled.

"I-I'm not even going to ask what happened here." You shyly said, already wanting to go home and sleep.

"Y/N, these are your new teammates. The blonde one is Aksel Brandt, the girl is Chay Müller and the arsonist is Klaus Becker. " It was obvious that there was a... special love-hate relationship between everyone in the squad. "Klaus, Chay, Aksel, this is your new squadmate, friend, whatever, Y/N L/N."

"And before you make her regret ever existing, be nice to her, please." He added before sitting down at the table. Everyone else joined him and so did you. "Now listed up dickheads... and Y/N. You all know about the upcoming expedition-," Klaus cut off Ethan mid-sentence by asking, "is it going to be dangerous?" - "yes, Klaus, it is going to be dangerous," Ethan answered, wanting to continue what he was going to say.

"So I'll die?" Klaus asked again, sounding oddly excited. "Most likely not." - "oh.." the disappointment in Klaus's voice made it mildly hilarious, to the point where no one could contain their laughter and let out a slight chuckle or snicker.

'This is gonna be an... interesting experience.'

"Now let's begin training, cadets!"

[flashback end]

"Okay, fine. You can go get that god-forsaken flower." Ethan finally agreed. "Hell yeah! I'll be back later!" You cheered as you turned your horse to the southwest and started riding away.

"Yeah... stay safe, kiddo..."

It didn't take too long until you spotted the same flower that the illustration in the flower book showed. They were everywhere.

'Gorgeous.'

You got down from your horse and started picking up the flowers. 'You've got good taste in flowers, Levi.'

You followed the trail of flowers until you noticed something. Wet. Not like that, but your hands were wet. It hadn't rained in days so the grass shouldn't have been wet. And even if it had rained, it shouldn't have been warm water. You looked at your hands and yeah, okay... blood. A lot of it. Like, a lot. Your eyes widened and you looked up from your hands, only to be met with death.

There were dead bodies everywhere. There were torn-off limbs randomly scattered around from titans brutally breaking people into billions of pieces, the sunlight highlighting the pools of blood and platters all over the ground. It was horrifying. Disgusting even.

One of the few survivors of the titan ambush had been sent on horseback to inform the Southern part of the formation about the disaster in the southwest. The first squad he reached was Ethan's. "Sir! Most of the southwest flanks have been wiped out by a herd of titans, they require backup!"

"Shit! Y/N went west, didn't she?" He immediately turned his horse to ride in your direction. " I should've known that was a bad idea."

...

"Should we like... go after him, or...?" Aksel hesitantly asked, fairly confused. "I mean... probably," Chay said, also confused.

"But what if we don't?" Klaus suggested, not wanting to die.

'Kid... you better not have died.'

You were walking around while looking at all the corpses' faces, hoping you wouldn't find Levi. Out of everything you feared in life, your biggest fear right now was to see Levi's perfect face on one of the corpses. The loud sound of something heavy hitting the ground caught your attention. There was a dead, steaming titan laying on the ground, and a figure standing on top of it. There were also two more titans walking around in the area nearby.

"Y/N?" The figure was Levi and the moment he saw you he immediately jumped down from the titan and ran over to you. "Levi? What the fuck happened here?!"

"Death, death happened." The breaking in Levi's voice was obvious, and the trauma in his eyes showed clearly. "You... you're okay, right?" - "I am now." You gave him a saddened smile and hugged him tightly, relieved that he was okay. He hugged you back and relaxed his head on your shoulder. But just like all cute moments, it had to come to an end because a titan's foot almost crushed the both of you.

You both fell to the ground by the impact. "Fuck, I forgot about those." Levi irritatedly said as he drew his blades, preparing for the kill. You also drew your blades to help him with the other titan but Levi didn't want you to fight, "Y/N, stay back, for now, I've got this!"

"Hah! No, don't underestimate me! I can do this!" Levi's gaze didn't leave you when you flew off on your ODMG to kill the titan. He was worried you'd fuck up and get grabbed, so he was focused on being ready to save you if you needed it instead of focusing on the titan wanting to eat him. Every move you made had Levi on the verge of interfering. He flinched several times when he thought you'd fuck up.

He was too worried about you and he never noticed the hand slowly grabbing him until he couldn't move a muscle.

'Wait, Uhh fuck!' He thought as he tried to decide what he should do to get out of the situation. He wanted to scream for help, cut off its fingers just so he could cut the titans head off after.

He also wanted so badly to just be quiet, to not say a word, and be eaten. But he couldn't. Because of you. He couldn't let you go through that kind of pain, not again.

You just finished killing the titan you were dealing with, 'sweet,' and was about to go brag about it and tell Levi how you killed the titan first but you stopped when you saw Levi slowly being lifted into the titan's mouth. You took a shaky breath before speaking.

"L-Levi? Wait, no, no, no! Damnit!" Without thinking you instinctively shot your hooks into the titan's jaw and flew straight towards Levi.

Moments before he was swallowed, you grabbed him with one of your arms while using the other one to hold open the titan's mouth. "Fucking idiot, why do I gotta save your ass all the time?!" You joked at the worst time possible. "Says the idiot."

You used all your strength to pull him out from the slimy, disgusting mouth. You got him out but the titan's mouth was closing and you couldn't keep it up anymore. It was either him or you. You looked at Levi with sorrow in your eyes. "Levi..." - "what?" You smiled at him and said, "I'm... I'm sorry," then you kicked him off his feet and he fell straight down to the ground. The last thing Levi saw before hitting the ground was the titan's mouth closing with you still in it and the sound of your bones crunching.

He wanted to scream.

Cry.

Something.

But he couldn't. All he could do was watch as the titan swallowed you. "But... sh-she promised..." Tears formed in Levi's eyes as he witnessed the scene in front of him. "N-no, she uhh... sh-she could still be alive." Levi brokenly argued with himself. He charged at the titan intending to kill it. He thought that if he was fast enough, he could save you. He could pull you out of the titan's stomach before you dissolved in the stomach acid.

Levi brutally killed the titan, cutting it everywhere, not missing a single spot. With the final blow at the nape, the titan was dead. He looked through all of the titan goo to hopefully find you alive.

After several minutes of impatiently looking, he found you. You were still alive, yes, but... well. Your right arm and left leg on the other hand. They were gone. The titan had chewed them off without you even noticing it. He picked you up to lay you down somewhere more comfortable than inside a dissolving titan. He put you down on the grass field where you had picked the flowers. When he checked, he could barely feel your pulse.

He couldn't believe it. It was happening all over again. You were barely breathing and he knew.

Levi knew you weren't going to make it. But he hoped that maybe, just maybe, you'd survive by some miracle.

"Lev... L-Levi?" It was almost inaudible, but you managed to choke out his name. He didn't answer. He stood in shock over you, not knowing what to do. "... h-how bad i-is it...? I'm..." You took a deep, weak breath before continuing, "I'm dying, a-aren't I?"

"I..."

"Yeah..." he crouched down and looked at you, trying to come up with a solution, but his mind went blank. He took your hand, the one still attached to you, in his.

"Well... at least I'll see Aster again..."

"Hey! Don't you dare give up on me..! You... you promised you'd stay. Don't leave me like the rest of them. P-please!.." His voice was breaking, and at this point, he was just hoping you'd stay with him. Levi held your arm closer to his chest, not wanting to let go of you. "Heh, I always knew you were a big softy, you fucking ass...

I... I'll say hi to Isabel and Farlan for you..."


	17. Epilogue - Regret

"Hey, Y/N... how're you holding up? Good, I hope." Four days... it had been four days since the 24th expedition ended. Three days ago was your funeral... There were a surprisingly good amount of people that showed up, showing just how much of an impact you managed to make on these people in such a short amount of time. And it was safe to say that Hanji was absolutely heartbroken. But with Levi, heartbroken was an understatement.

Levi crouched down to put the newly bought flowers on your grave, as he had been doing every day for three days now.

"So... your funeral was good, I guess. A lot of people showed up, Uhh... too many people for my liking but, yeah... Even Ethan's husband came. I honestly think they would've adopted you if you were still alive. It's weird knowing how many people actually like you or just enjoyed your presence." Levi thinks to himself for a bit.

"You know, I really didn't like you at first. Like, at all. You were so god damn annoying, but it turned out to be one of the most amusing things about you."

He was about to cry, but also started to somewhat laugh while remembering all the annoying things you'd done just for him.

"I know Erwin told me not to regret anything but, fuck that. I have regrets, Y/N." The somewhat laughing stopped and he was now just silently crying, but refusing to let any tears out. "I regret ever meeting you, I regret deciding to like and trust you, and... I regret falling in love with you..."

Levi stood up, wanting to go home and to see you there waiting for him. But that would never happen again. You were gone and he had to accept that. The thought of never being able to achieve the future he so desperately wanted with you made him unable not to cry. The single tear that went down his face said enough, he was completely and utterly heartbroken.

He took one final look at your grave and took notice of all the different flowers that people had left behind for you. Roses, lilies, daisies, and... forget me not...

"Ironic... having the very same flower that got you killed, on your grave." He started to leave while saying his last goodbyes. 'Believe me when I say this, Y/N...'

"I won't forget you."

~The End~

[The next chapter is an extra chapter. You don't have to read it, it's optional. I just felt bad for breaking all of your hearts so I tried to make it even worse with an extra chapter.]


	18. Extra chapter - If only

-Days later-

"Levi..."

"Levi?"

"Levi?!"

"What?" Levi finally answered, clearly annoyed. "You gotta get up. We're about to open." You said as you left the bedroom to make breakfast.

With a grunt, Levi sat up from the bed while the bright sunshine from the open window blinded him a bit. "Unless you enjoy cold tea, you should stop being such a lazy old man and get up!" You yelled from the kitchen. It took a while, but eventually, Levi came walking down the stairs dressed in a nice-looking black suit.

"Oh~ how fancy. But don't you think that's a bit too formal? We're only going to work." You said. It's not that it didn't look good, this man looked like a model no matter what he wore.

"No, you see. Unlike you, I don't want people running away the moment they see me." Levi said as he walked past you, sitting down at the table. He ate and drank his tea quietly. "Did you just call me ugly?" You questioned with a dramatically hurt look in your eyes.

"Well, yes." Levi stood up and walked towards you. "Pardon? I don't think I quite heard you. Care to repeat yourself?" You asked, staring him down. And if looks could kill, Levi would have been dead.

"Oh, come on. I'm kidding. You know I could never, not even for a second, see you as ugly. You're so pretty- no... you're stunningly beautiful." You looked away as you felt your face heat up. A soft smile appeared on your face along with a chuckle.

Levi brought you in for a hug and you hugged him back tightly.

"Can't we just stay like this? It doesn't have to be forever, but for a little bit longer... please?" You mumbled.

"Weren't you the one telling me to hurry up because we're about to open?" Levi questioned, with that smug attitude of his. You frowned and looked at him. "The customers can wait." You insisted. Levi sighed as he said, "no, Y/N. Come on. Don't be such a 'lazy old man'," referring to what you had called him earlier.

"Yeah, yeah... okay, I'm coming." You pecked Levi quickly on the lips before running out the door before him.

The day went on as usual. There were plenty of customers coming to your tea-shop, though not too many. Commander Erwin, Hanji, Klaus, and even Ethan showed up. Not that it was a surprise.

You got home after closing the shop and immediately flopped down on the couch. Levi followed shortly after and sat down along with you. You shifted position and cuddled up against Levi. He took you in his arms and softly played with your hair and stroked your body. The sensation of safety taking over you as you grew more relaxed and sleepy with each passing moment.

"Mm... Levi?"

"Yeah?"

"Is this really that dream of yours?" You asked, looking up at him. "What do you mean?"

"Is this... really that life you dreamt of?"

Your question totally caught Levi by surprise. He didn't expect you to have an existential crisis right after finishing working, but he had to be honest.

"No. It isn't." Levi answer. Honestly, you weren't surprised. You had doubted your relationship for a while now. 'Of course...'

"It's more than what I could have ever wished for. To me at least, this is a perfect life. And that is all because of... well, you." Now that did surprise you. Had all of your doubts just been plain paranoia. "R-really?"

"Yes." Levi chuckled. "Now go to sleep, you brat." He added. You did as told and closed your eyes, cuddling up closer to Levi, falling asleep with a smile. Levi sat up another hour or two, only to listen to your breath and those softly mumbled words you said in your sleep. He couldn't deny it, Levi was finally at peace. Of course, he was scared to death of something might happening to you, but all he could do for now was savor the moment.

Levi carefully lifted your arm and placed a tender kiss on your knuckles before intertwining his hand with yours. He took a deep, satisfied breath and leaned his head back to rest. Not long after, Levi fell asleep.

_______________________________

As the morning rolled in, Levi's arms felt oddly empty. There wasn't anyone there. He looked around for a bit. He wasn't even on the couch, he was on his bed in the barracks. "What..? I..."

Levi got dressed and walked to the mess hall. Everyone was already there eating breakfast, he must have slept in. "Yo, Levi! Sit over here!" The screeching noise of Hanji's loud voice was heard by everyone. Levi rolled his eyes but decided to sit with Hanji anyway. After a few minutes of Hanji continuously asking Levi and Moblit random questions, Levi spoke up.

"Where's Y/N?"

...

Never in his life had Levi thought that Hanji could actually be quiet. When no one answered, he asked, "Hello? Didn't you hear me?" Hanji and Moblit exchanged a confused and worried look. "Have you two seen her today?"

"Levi...

She's dead."

At that moment when reality hit Levi, it felt like he was losing you all over again. Like a punch to the face. He got flashbacks of seeing your pale yet peaceful face through his tearful eyes. 'She was just here...'

Levi's face darkened and he didn't know what to say. A mix of heartbreak and embarrassment came flooding over him. 'If only I didn't get grabbed by that titan... if only I was fast enough... if only I didn't let my guard down. No... if ... if only I hadn't met her...'

"Oh... y-yeah...

I must have forgotten..."


End file.
